Can I Change?

Is it because there is no God in Israel that you are going to inquire of Baal-zebub, the god of Ekron? 2 Kings 1:3

Because of my persistent destructive appetites, my behavior has been tremendously difficult to change. I remember a time when I could not imagine living without a pill. I need it. I’m never going to stay clean. I’m never going to change.

How then, do we change? When we come to God, does He magically remove all of our toxic appetites? I certainly wanted Him to work like that, but I’ve realized as long as we live in this flesh, we will feel the gravity of its faulty desires. As long as we feed those desires, we will sow the seeds of our own misery.

The Israelite king, Ahaziah found this out in today’s passage. In the story, Ahaziah suffered some life-threatening injury and desperately desired knowledge of his future. Am I going to die? Instead of pursuing God though, Ahaziah sent messengers to ask the Philistine god, Baal-zebub.

God sent Elijah to intercept those messengers with a question for Ahaziah. Why do you ask Baal-zebub when you have me? Why are you seeking that voice? Because you have sown that seed, you will reap its bitter fruit. You will die.

The apostle Paul, later echoed this in Galatians 6:8. The one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

This is how God changes us. If we, like Ahaziah, invest our time and effort in those appetites and voices that are not-God, then we will, like Ahaziah, reap corruption and death. If, however, we sow the seeds of God in us, then He will grow His life in us.

What does this mean? It means that to change, we must commit to following God. It means we must get up every day and point our lives at Him, reading and meditating on His voice. It means we must meet with others who struggle as we do. It means purposefully cutting out those things that distract us from God. When we draw near to God, He always does His part, drawing near to and transforming us. This is how we change.