THE POWER TO BECOME
“But as many as received Him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God…”
(John 1.12, KJV)
Thomas Jones once wrote a poem entitled “Two Ghosts.” In the poem, he identifies the two ghosts which continually haunt him — one was the boy he used to be; the other was the man he might have been. Both were deeply disturbing… the boy he used to be had held such high hopes for the man he was to be. The man he was felt deep regret for what he might have been.
Probably all of us, to a greater or lesser degree, are haunted by these two same ghosts! But the message of the Bible is that we can still do something about the person we might have been. John 1.12 says that to those who receive Him, Jesus gives “the power to become sons of God.”
“The power to become!” That’s what we all need! To become is “to change, grow, come to be something more than you are now.” Christianity is about being “becomers!” Consider…
1) We Are Never As Good As We Ought To Be.
We are not perfect. (Romans 3.23; 1 John 1.8.) Christianity is not a state of sinless perfection, but it is a matter of “reaching forth” and “pressing on” toward “the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3.13-14.) We must keep maturing, growing, becoming!
2) The Possibility Of Change Is The Hope Of Us All.
We do not have to stay where we are: we do not have to be what we always have been! We can “change, grow, come to be something more than we are now.” Jesus said, in John 12.36, “You may become sons of light.” (NIV) In writing to the Christians at Corinth, Paul refers to a black catalogue of moral weakness, perversity and deficiency: adulterers, prostitutes, homosexuals, thieves, swindlers. (1 Corinthians 6.9-10.) And then he says, “And that is what some of you were.” (1 Corinthians 6.11/NIV) That is what they had been, but they had become something else!
3) We Have The Power To Become! God created us for the heights! Our journey must be onward and upward. Not only were we created with great expectations, we were give resources to fulfill those expectations. The Greek word for “power” in John 1.12 indicates “physical and mental power, ability, strength.” (Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, p. 225.) And to those who surrender to Him in obedience, Jesus gives the “power” to become.
Life’s biggest question is not, “Who are you?” but “What are you becoming…?” You can still do something, as long as life lasts, about becoming the person you might have been! Why not start now????
~Bobby Dockery, Fayetteville, Ark.