A topic of great import is this. Will power will never succeed. That is why we need genuine transformation of the heart. This is a topic I have preached on, and recently stumbled upon once again while going through so notes. What a powerful reminder it is. As Christ followers, our mission is to transform the earth, to bring the news to every corner, to love radically. To save the weak, find the lost, befriend the lonely. Well, inner transformation is what changes the outer world. Vast debate has taken place in regards to mystic Christianity, subjectivism and objectivism in the faith. Do we overemphasize personal relationship? Do we focus too much on evangelism, creating a turn or burn Christianity?

While I do have a stance one way on these questions, for now they will remain rhetorical as we traverse the real topic at heart. Transformation. Inner transformation is what changes the world, accomplishes our mission. To finally expound and wave away all this unspecific and mystical generalization, here we go.

We hear countless messages on the topic of allowing God to be our strength, allowing Him to sustain us, leaning on Him, finding our rest in Him, our peace in Him. However, when it comes to living God’s greatest commandment of loving one another, we suddenly forget this. We fall short and are weary; we try to love each other in our own strength. Do not misunderstand, it takes effort to show the fruit of the Spirit that we ought to be, but our effort is misdirected. We are skipping a step, aiming our efforts at producing the fruit, rather than fertilizing the soil. It does not matter how hard we will a tree to grow, if there is not good seed in the ground. In this way, the step we are missing is personal relationship and transformation.

Just as we cannot will the fruit tree to grow, we cannot will ourselves to constantly show love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control. These come from a deeply rooted relationship with the Father, and sprout from the Holy Spirit indwelling us in an intimate relationship. We can show these characteristics in our own strength, certainly, and many people can more easily than others, but in the end, our own strength will fail. We will burn ourselves out, and our fruit will spoil under the strain. The first step must be a pursuit of personal relationship with Christ, picking up our cross daily and allowing our hearts to be genuinely transformed. Stop trying to be loving, kind and gentle, and allow Jesus to make you that way, to mold those traits into your character in a way that you no longer have to try, you simply are. From the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.