Jesus, the divine Creator, carried out a wonderful self-sacrificing work for us on Earth 2,000 years ago. And He’s still working for us individually in heaven. All His work on our behalf prepares the way for us to receive forgiveness and eternal life. Yet His work also needs to change us. That requires communication with us, cooperation from us, and transformation of our lives.
Before He left, Jesus promised to send the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of the Godhead, to accomplish this work in our lives. He’s the power that transforms us, and He brings Jesus’ presence to us. John 14:16-19. He works individually with us through a seemingly humble device—the Bible! Let’s look at how the Bible is involved in renewing our lives.
When we open the Bible, we’re not just looking at a collection of 66 books written over thousands of years by human authors. The Holy Spirit was helping each author write information and messages from God the Father and Jesus. 2 Tim. 3:16. Quite often, we find we’re reading Their actual words, though in translation, of course.
We need to understand the nature of God’s words. At Creation, the cosmos came into existence purely by His command. Gen. 1. His words have His creative power in them. Ps. 33:6-9. When Jesus was on Earth, He often healed people or raised the dead simply by a command. John 11:38-44.
The Word of God—the Bible—contains God’s creative power for us. A simple promise can make a change in us. What Jesus said to His disciples 2,000 years ago, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you” (John 14:27), is for us too. His words have power through the Holy Spirit to give us peace.
The Bible often speaks to us personally, like a fresh text message. It’s also a much-needed instruction book for us. It tells us what God is like, how to follow Him, and what He wants us to do as His children. Jesus came to reveal the Father to us, so the four Gospels are good places to start learning these things.
God says, “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways’…. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” Isa. 55:8-9. He has so much to teach us, but we can’t learn it without the Bible.
It’s important to realize that God wants us to respond to what we learn by speaking to Him in prayer and doing what He says. We have a part to play in making progress in our spiritual life. If we don’t respond in actions as we learn, we won’t change.
When we give our lives to Jesus, God re-creates our mind by the Holy Spirit. Our old self-centered mindset is disabled, and a new, other-centered one takes its place. In the Bible this is called being born again, but it’s just the start. We need to grow! See John 3:3-5; 2 Pet. 3:18.
The creative power of God’s Word and our positive active responses combine for spiritual growth. God tells us to “desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby.” 1 Pet. 2:2. Especially by studying and copying the character of Jesus, “we all, …beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image…by the Spirit of the Lord.” 2 Cor. 3:18.
This transformation is fundamental. Becoming like Jesus makes us the loving humans God meant us to be. Then we can help others effectively, and heaven will feel like home!
All verses quoted are taken from the New King James Version of the Bible.
Image credit: © Shutterstock.com
