With a tear in her eyes, her hand slipped up to request a prayer. “ Would you pray,” she said, “That the Lord would change my heart and use me as an agent of change in my family.” For years, this lovely woman has been praying for the salvation of her family. Lord change them was a fervent request that she had been petitioning the Lord for. Now she was coming to a place where her life and motives were being called to change from a temporal view to an eternal one. From, “ If you change them, my life would be better to, change me Lord so that their lives can better.” I was deeply moved by the transformation that I saw in this life. The other centered love that shows us the life of Christ. It is true, that to the degree we can die to self, the resurrected life of Christ in us begins to be lived out through our lives. Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4: 10-12, We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus sake, so that His life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then death is at work in us, so that life is at work in you. In this way she is becoming an ambassador for Christ, as though God is beginning to make his appeal through her, be reconciled to God through Christ Jesus. For He made Him sin, who knew no sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Christ.

Lord, you know the motives of our hearts. You see even the things of our lives that we do not. Show us, forgive us and change us so that we can be useful for your kingdom.

David Sternbeck