Tag Archives: transformation

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Spiritual Ripples | Bible Gleanings – July 22-23, 2023

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The smooth stone skirted across the still lake, spoiling the serene sheet of water on the surface. Ripples formed where the rock entered, spreading all the way to the shore. The water was unaffected, undisturbed, and unmoved until the pebble was thrown in. And the moment the stone struck the water, it sprung to life instantly, and the ripples were proof. This is a scene I often see as I skip rocks across streams, ponds, and lakes when I am outdoors hiking or backpacking. 

This is also the scene of the lives of all saints who have received salvation from the Savior. The Scripture teaches that putting your faith in Christ is like putting a pebble into a pond—when you do, you’ll inevitably have “ripples” in your life. When God throws the rock of saving faith into your heart, transformation immediately occurs, and the ripple effects of the gospel’s power are visibly seen. Deadness, stillness, and silence become a thing of the past (Eph. 2:1; Acts 4:20). However, if there are no spiritual ripples in your life, then the stone of saving faith was never thrown in. 

James teaches this in the pillar text of his epistle: “What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:14-17). 

James’ point is sharp and sure: possession of faith is always confirmed by the expression of good works and life change. The ripples of heart-sanctification, life-transformation, and good-works-manifestation inexorably result from the stone of faith being thrown onto the heart by God. Moreover, the Bible instructs us to ensure that such spiritual ripples are present in our lives. Jesus and John the baptizer both taught that healthy trees will bear fruit (Matt. 3:8-10; 7:17-20). And Peter similarly commanded, “Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities [virtues and spiritual fruit] you will never fall” (2 Peter 1:10). 

Dear reader, do you have ripples in your heart and life? Has the stone of saving faith created dramatic changes in the affections of your heart and the direction of your life? If so, then you may sing the words of Since Jesus Came Into My Heart with full assurance: 

“What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought

Since Jesus came into my heart!

I have light in my soul for which long I have sought,

Since Jesus came into my heart!”

— Rufus H. McDaniel (1850-1940)

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He pastored the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky for six years. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).

For more devotional entries like this, check out Brandon’s latest book, Bible Gleanings Volume II, which features 100 daily devotionals gleaned from God’s word:

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Real Repentance | Bible Gleanings – Feb 25-26, 2023

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The satanically-inspired music, obscene video games, and t-shirts with lewd designs were all burned without a shred of regret. I was a new believer, and I had just read the words of Jesus, where He requires repentance from all who wish to follow Him: “So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). Therefore, I incinerated the emblems of my former life because God had stoked the flames of true repentance in my heart. I knew that such things couldn’t come along in my new Christian pilgrimage—they had to be left behind for Christ. And that is what real repentance is all about.

Repentance is more than regret or remorse (cf. 2 Cor. 7:10-11). Repentance is not when you cry—it’s when you change. It involves a deliberate rejection and renunciation of sin. It is a holy determination that says, “I am done with sin and I am abandoning it for the Savior.” Repentance is letting go of your sins and taking hold of Christ (cf. Luke 9:23-27; 18:18-30).

Real repentance entails divorcing sin and “marrying” Jesus, no matter the cost. It is what the practitioners of black magic exhibited in Acts 19, which says, “Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices. And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all. And they counted the value of them and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver” (vv. 18-19). The loss of their valuable magic books didn’t matter when they were gaining Christ (cf. Phil. 3:7-11).

Have you genuinely repented of your sin and surrendered to Christ? Have you laid aside all the weights of iniquity that would keep you from following Christ (Heb. 12:1)? If so, repentance is something you should still practice as a believer. After all, the Lord calls even His children to repent (cf. 2 Chron. 7:14; Rev. 2:5, 16, 21-22; 3:3, 19). As the reformer John Calvin once said, “Repentance is not merely the start of the Christian life; it is the Christian life.”

Believer, sing the words of I Am Resolved in your heart and life as you continue to repent of sin:

“I am resolved no longer to linger,

charmed by the world’s delight;

things that are higher, things that are nobler,

these have allured my sight.

I will hasten to Him,

hasten so glad and free;

Jesus, greatest, highest,

I will come to Thee.

I am resolved to go to the Savior,

leaving my sin and strife;

He is the true one, He is the just one,

He has the words of life.”

— Palmer Hartsough (1844-1932)

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He pastored the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky for six years. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).

For more devotional entries like this, check out Brandon’s latest book, Bible Gleanings Volume II, which features 100 daily devotionals gleaned from God’s word:

Bible Gleanings, devotions

Being With Jesus | Bible Gleanings – December 31-January 1, 2023

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The scolding sun seared my skin as I sat by the sea in the Sunshine State. My giant forehead glowed red, and the rest of my body had roasted like a rotisserie chicken. When I returned home, no one assumed that I had painted myself brown or miraculously changed my ethnicity. I had clearly been basking in the blistering sun because the proof was all over me. That’s simply what time in the sun will do for you.  

That’s what time with the Son will do for you, too. When you spend enough time with Jesus, the proof will be written all over you. Talking often with Him will make a difference in the way you talk to others. Praying unceasingly before His face will change even the look on your face (cf. Acts 6:15). You cannot bathe in the rays of the sun without being noticeably affected, and you cannot bask in the presence of the Son without being profoundly transformed. 

People will notice the difference in your character and conduct, and their attention will be drawn to the One who made it (cf. Matt. 5:16). Even your adversaries will see the change in you, just as the satanically controlled Sanhedrin couldn’t deny that Peter and John had been with Jesus. As Luke said, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). These men were with Jesus for so long that He rubbed off on them! They were walking and talking like the Lord because they had been walking and talking with the Lord. 

The transformation Jesus makes can also be very unsettling to those around you. Some may be worried that the Lord will rub off on them as well. Those who are not prepared to change their life may be intimidated by the change Christ has made in yours. They may resist getting close to you, fearful that they might get too close to the Lord by doing so. That is what happened to Moses after his extended meeting with the Lord atop Mt. Sinai:

“When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him” (Exodus 34:29-30).

The radical transformation that comes from being with Jesus is precisely what William D. Longstaff (1822-1894) expressed in his beautiful hymn, Take Time to Be Holy. The second verse encourages all believers to spend more time with Jesus in order to become more like Jesus:

“Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;

Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.

By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;

Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.”

Will you take time to be with Jesus?

Bible Gleanings is a widely-read weekend devotional column, written for the Murray Ledger & Times in Calloway County, Kentucky.

Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He pastored the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky for six years. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English Shepherd), and Dot (Bluetick Beagle).

Sermons

Sermon: A Testimony of Transformation (Acts 9:20-31) | Nov 28, 2021

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Brandon is the founder and main contributor to Brandon’s Desk, the blog with biblical resources from his ministry. He is proud to be the pastor of the family of believers at Locust Grove Baptist Church in Murray, Kentucky. He and his wife Dakota live there with their three dogs, Susie (Jack Russell), Aries (English shepherd), and Dot (beagle).