If anyone is in Christ ~ Mark Balmer

Based on “Under HIS Influence – Changed Lives” 

by Pastor Mark Balmer; 

Message #MB390; Daily Devotional #1 - 

“Key Changers”

Preparing the Soil (Introduction): Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

If you are reading this devotional on your computer screen, you are sure to have a keyboard somewhere close at hand that is laid out with what is called the QWERTY letter arrangement.  When Christopher Latham Sholes, the inventor of the typewriter, developed the original keyboard, he realized that the keys would jam if typing occurred at a great speed because too many frequently used letters were placed too close together. So the QWERTY system, so named for the first five letters in the upper left part of the keyboard, was developed to actually slow down typists by placing the most frequently used letters as far apart as possible.

He then publicly, and falsely, claimed that the QWERTY system was scientifically devised to promote efficient typing. According to research, however, any other keyboard arrangement would actually be easier for typing. In fact, in 1936, August Dvorak did invent a more efficient keyboard, but by then the QWERTY had been so widely accepted, it was too popular to be replaced. Now, with the use of computers instead of typewriters, jamming keys are no longer an issue, and new, better keyboards would only be a matter of rearranging the keys and reprogramming the system, but still we persistently cling to what we have come to know best.

 

Planting and Watering the Seed (Growth): 

Because past generations accepted a lie as fact, new keyboarders are taught with that same inefficient system today.  And each generation tolerates and passes on the failings of the old, rather than embracing an improving change.

It is an apt picture of human nature to persist in the path of least resistance rather than go through the effort it would take to make changes for the better. God is offering us a new and better way when we turn our lives completely over to Jesus. We don’t have to make the mistakes of our parents. We can rise above the shortcomings and faults we struggle against, and we can let God reprogram our hearts and rearrange our key issues. Instead, too often we cling to old, mediocre ways just because they are what we know and improvement would take determined effort.

 

Harvesting the Crop (Action/Response): 

Saul was determined to cling to the old ways. He was a QWERTY kind of guy. Watching Stephen’s stoning, and witnessing the unwavering faith of those he dragged off to prison, wasn’t enough to pry him away from the old ways, so God used a shocking, but more powerful approach to convince him of his need. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to wait for a Damascus Road experience to embrace the changes God has appointed for me. I don’t want to pass on wrong thinking to my friends and family.

I want to abandon anything that originates in my self, and wholly cling to Jesus. Each of us has key issues on which God would put His finger of change. He is speaking to you about an area even as you read these words. Now is the time to embrace His leading and start the work of Holy Spirit inspired changes.

Cultivating (Additional Reading): Ephesians 2:1-10