“That message really hit me!” we often hear after a powerful service. Maybe it was strong, eloquent, or really “struck a nerve.” Sometimes, a sermon impacts us so deeply that it pushes us to make decisions we might not make on our own—like giving an unusually generous offering. This impact is that push we get, Sunday after Sunday, trying to guide our spiritual life in a direction.
Years ago, when conferences of all kinds started to take off—music, youth, missions, prophecy, you name it—I had a friend I jokingly called “the event girl” because she never missed one, even though her life and ministry didn’t seem to be growing at the pace she wanted. Those big youth conferences impacted many lives but, sadly, only a few actually changed.
Although “impact” has always been seen as something positive, it has a limitation: it’s like the bruise that appears when we’ve taken a hard hit. Given time, a bruise fades. Impact is temporary; true change speaks of lasting transformation. And nothing can transform a life more deeply, genuinely, and fruitfully than three things:
True Repentance – Max Lucado once wrote, “Repentance is the decision to abandon selfish desires and seek God. It’s a genuine sorrow that stirs us to recognize our errors and desire to improve. It’s an inner conviction that becomes outward action. You see God’s love and can’t believe He loves you so deeply, and this drives you to change your life.” Repentance means one of the hardest things for anyone struggling to break a sin, bondage, or habit: learning to despise what God despises (Psalm 119:104; Proverbs 8:13; Acts 3:19; Revelation 2:6).
The Presence of God – Before we experience God’s power, we need to acknowledge His presence with us daily. We can’t expect to see His power while ignoring that He’s always near. How can we ask God on Sunday to help us or fulfill our requests when we’ve been indifferent to His presence the entire week?
The Word of God – The Word of God brings conviction, sanctifies, frees, heals, and gives life (Ezekiel 37). We must ask God to enlighten our understanding through His Word “so that we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching” (Ephesians 4:14).
Let’s not settle for services, events, impacts, and bruises. It’s time to be transformed into what God has called us to be. True metamorphosis requires leaving behind the cocoon that once confined us when we were just caterpillars. God’s hand has already worked in us, and it’s time to open our wings and let the whole world see the difference.