Change for God for good

We all would agree that 2020 has been a miserable year - pandemic, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, financial crisis, not to mention individual troubles, deaths in the family and many other miseries. In all this trouble, it is a still a good time to seek God with all our hearts to understand what He wants.

What I have realized is that what I did most of my life was to listen and receieve from God whether it be His word or His blessings. What I was struggling or failing to do was to implement real change inside of me. The book of Amos gave me a lot of insight on what God wants. Amos 5 says that -

14 Seek good and not evil and live!
You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
being your best friend.
Well, live like it,
and maybe it will happen.
15 Hate evil and love good,
then work it out in the public square.
Maybe God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
will notice your remnant and be gracious.
...
21-24 “I can’t stand your religious meetings.
I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.
I want nothing to do with your religion projects,
your pretentious slogans and goals.
I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,
your public relations and image making.
I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.
When was the last time you sang to me?
Do you know what I want?
I want justice — oceans of it.
I want fairness — rivers of it.
That’s what I want. That’s all I want.

This is a pretty good indication of what God wants from the world. He is not looking for religious ceremonies, projects, funds or anything. What God is looking for is real obedience in thought, words and actions. He is looking for justice, fairness, mercy and love. These things need real change inside a person. God is not looking for people who simply attend church all their lives, but is looking for that person who has implemented change inside them everyday so that they get closer to God. Jesus actually said that clearly in Luke 6:48-49 -

“If you work the words into your life, you are like a smart carpenter
who dug deep and laid the foundation of his house on bedrock.
When the river burst its banks and crashed against the house,
nothing could shake it; it was built to last.
But if you just use my words in Bible studies and
don’t work them into your life, you are like a dumb
carpenter who built a house but skipped the foundation.
When the swollen river came crashing in,
it collapsed like a house of cards. It was a total loss.”

So each day we need to seek God in His word, ask God to teach us and change us, we can never be perfect but we need to be open to change and be changed from inside, always obeying God and improving day by day.