Are We Being Moved?

I am taking a fiction writing class this semester and there was a discussion on the climax of the character, the moment of the epiphany.

There were two view points in this class:

The first is that people are essentially set in our ways. That we receive the ah ha moment that has been given to us and then moments later we turn away and revert back to out old ways, and even more so our old ways of thinking. We don’t take the epiphany and let it change us. The idea was that unless we had someone with a gun to our heads at ever moment of our lives we would never change. Even then it was brought up that we may in the end become used to the gun and start to tune it out and continue in our old lives.

The second idea was that epiphany was such a spiritual experience that it would change the very essence of who we are. We would see our lives, ourselves in a completely new light. The idea that epiphany would change us so radically that we could not go back to what we once were.
It got me thinking about the epiphany God gives us. For those of us whom God has revealed Himself to us though His son Jesus Christ and have allowed His truth to take root in our hearts, we have seen an epiphany that, hopefully, has changed us radically. We are new creations. But does it stop there?
It was asked of my class which of the views was more realistic. On the whole most people said that the first view was more realistic. That your life and your view on life does not simply change because of a moment. And for the majority of people I would agree. A lot of people who do not know Christ or do not allow the Holy Spirit to move in their lives become stagnate, set in their ways. They have revelations and moments that call them to a point of turning but then days go by and they again return to their old habits.

For example a man may be a heavy partier and a heavy drinker and it is having an effect on his life and his family. One day he spirals, finds himself waking up in his own vomit after a abusive fight with his wife. For a brief moment he sees the depravity of his life and he sees that he needs help desperately. So he joins a human centered program. For months he’s clean. However either through time, compromise or a tragedy he is thrown back into his old drinking habit. Now this may not be the case for everyone who joins a rehab program or decides to change. However I would says this is the majority of people. It may not be as extreme as this example but it still stands as Proverbs 26:11 states and again 2 Peter 2:22, “As a dog returns to his own vomit, so a fool repeats his folly.”
In our human nature which is wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) we will continue to do the things that destroy us and without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit we cannot control this habitual circle of destruction.
As Christians we know this, we know that apart from God we can do anything truly good and nothing good dwells in us (Romans 7:18). But how often do we allow God to move us? How often do we actually allow the Holy Spirit to change us even in our walk with Christ? After a time do we merely revert back to our old man or are we truly allowing God to change us from glory to greater glory (2 Corinthians 3:18).

As Christians have we grown stagnant in our walk with Christ?

Epiphany, revelation, vision, moving upon our hearts; all these encompass the same idea of God speaking to us. God still speaks to His children. The first question we must ask ourselves is do we hear God’s voice?

In the imagery was brought up that we would not change unless a gun was held to our head every moment of every day and yet after a while we would become numb. When we are new believers we may have God prompting us daily and even moment by moment because we have become such a detriment to ourselves and are so prone to turn back to our own ways. However as we become accustom to the prompting of the Spirit even if it is not moment by moment do we start to become numb. Something that so moved us when we first got saved, that fire that once stirred us to do great things for the Lord has grown cold. Or when we are like Jeremiah and say no more I will not speak the truth of God are we so compelled within ourselves, “Then I said, I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name. But His Word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.”

Do we allow God to change our hearts? As Christians we should not view the first view on epiphany as the norm. We should be so moved by God that it radically changes us.

Will this happen every time? No. Even Paul struggled to not return to his old man, to his flesh, to his old habits (Romans 7). Nor should we try to accomplish God’s will in our own strength, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).
I have been burdened this week with those believers that once were so on fire for God but now have forgotten the movement that God spoke into their lives. They no longer strive in the race for their souls but have given up and become stagnant pew dwellers. The epiphany of God is not changing them for good.

The seed falls on four types of ground:

1. It is picked up by Satan and does not even take root.
2. It is shallow and is dried up when the sun beats down upon it. The Word God gives us is only shallowly taken in by our hearts and when trouble befalls us we simple allow God’s Word to shrivel up and die.
3. It is choked out by the the thorns. The cares of this world and this life consume us so that we no longer give priority to God. 
4. Or do we allow God to speak to us and take his word to heart allowing Him to actually change us.

None of us will be perfected this side of heaven but we are called to be moved and to grow. Why then do we stunt ourselves by ignoring or digging our heels in against God. How long will God strive with us? If we as believers think that God will not call us on being stagnant in our walk look at the last church in Revelation, “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.” We are called to something greater than remaining in our old ways and doing things for ourselves. Brothers and sisters are you heeding and being moved by the epiphany God has for you?