I Think a Change Will Do You Good

I used to love reading celebrity gossip. I mean, it was my jam. I knew who dated whom and when, where they lived, where they went on dates. I could tell you who had won the Oscar and who had designed their dress. The Golden Globes were my Super Bowl. Dusty knew this evening was sacrosanct to me and I was NOT to be disturbed. I frequented a celebrity gossip website...daily. One of my favorite websites was a "blind" gossip website where they would share horrible stories of celebrity misbehavior and we mortals would guess who it was. Now, I never participated in these conversations. I was above that....

Geez. Even writing this makes me cringe with sadness. It's okay if at some point in reading the previous paragraph you judged me a little. I mean, I'm reading it about my own self and going....Oh, gosh. Such loser behavior.

So why do I share the shame of my past as a celebrity stalker? Because I want to prove something to you:

People change.

A few years ago, I looked at Dusty and said, "Did you know it's been almost a year since I've bought an Us Weekly?"

To which he admitted he had completely noticed. See, my sweet husband always called me out on my bad habit. God had been knocking on the door of my heart about this gossip habit, too (yes, talking about famous people you've never met is gossip), but I swept it under the rug. Pretending it wasn't that big of deal.

I never made a conscious decision to lay down the magazines and the gossip, it just sort of happened. One day, I just didn't care all that much anymore.

And, coincidentally (or was it?), it happened around the time I began Bible study. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't spending all my time studying the Word. I still had free time, still had hobbies. But this gossip thing no longer had a hold of my heart, and honestly, I forgot about it.

This ugly habit went away when I started filling my heart with God's wonderful Word...and I didn't even notice.

I realize you may think indulging in celebrity gossip isn't a "big deal" kind of sin. But it is. Gossip in any form and partaking in salacious stories are not God's best for me, filling my brain with details of lust and cheating and selfishness.

So I tell you all this in order to tell you this: God's Word will change your heart. In little bits and pieces and in great chunks. Sometimes noticeably, but most of time in quiet whispers and in a soft remolding of your heart.

Romans 12:2 tells us, "Do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind."

So how do I renew my mind?

By coming to Him and His Word. Ephesians 4:23 discusses putting off our old selves and doing what Jesus taught. Jesus taught us that the ways of this world lead to sin and death.

For crying out loud, how we need to put these things away. These sins that drive us farther and farther from the perfect peace God intended we have. We need to renew our minds by leaning in to His Word which renews both our mind and our heart. We learn to think and feel in new ways. 

Sometimes this new thinking is loud and thunderous and instantaneously life changing. But most of the time it's still and small and blink-and-you'll-miss-it. One day you'll wake up and say, "Hey, I don't do that anymore..."

And it's Jesus.

Let me encourage you today if you're desperate to change in some way and you're in God's Word, but it's just not happening:

It is happening.

If you are in Jesus, even if you're dealing with the same old issues, you are being made new. You may fight the same sins, but I guarantee you they are not the same in frequency, intensity, or the length of time between temptation. The struggle of the sin fight you are in is evidence itself of a great work God is doing in your heart.

My friend, please don't give up in the fight, believe that He is accomplishing an amazing work in you.

And then one day, you'll be scrolling through a legitimate news website and see a tiny vignette concerning, ahem, a Kardashian, and you'll think hmmm...wonder what that's about? You'll go to click the link, but then, your hand will stop. You just don't click because you just don't care.

And you'll sit in your kitchen and think, huh...this Bible thing really does work.