When I was dating my wife, Anna, one thing I admired about her was her love for sports. I love sports too, but there are two sports I don't like. Forgive me if you like these, but I don't.<\/p>\n\n
The first is bowling. I can't understand it. You pick up this cannonball and throw it on this beautiful maple floor that's tilted. And it goes down and disappears, thank goodness. All of a sudden\u0097swbump!\u0097it comes back again. You throw that thing down again, and it goes down and disappears. All of a sudden\u0097s wbump! \u0097it comes back. All night you're trying to get rid of it. Finally when you're done and you try to leave, they make you pay for throwing that ball down on the ground. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.<\/p>\n\n
The other is roller-skating: four wheels, none of them turn, and they expect you to go around in circles.<\/p>\n\n
This is a true story. On our first date, I knocked on Anna's door. I was so excited. I said, "Where would you like to go tonight?" She said, "Do you like bowling?" And she picked up her own bowling ball. She had her own bag. Now, I was in love, so when she asked if I liked bowling, my answer was, "I love bowling." And we went bowling all night. We had a great time.<\/p>\n\n
The next week I knocked on her door. I said, "Where would you like to go this week?" She picked up her skates. She said, "Do you like skating?" I said, "I've been waiting for months for someone to ask me go skating. I love skating." And we skated all night.<\/p>\n\n
I look back on it now and think, What made it easy for me to change? Did I have to work up this thing to change my desire for bowling and skating? No. It was because of my relationship with that girl. Because of the love that I had in relationship with her, change was easy.<\/p>\n\n
The power to change is predicated upon your relationship with God. How often I think, God, it's hard to do what you're asking me to do, hard to change. Do I just grit my teeth?<\/em> "No," the Lord says, "why don't you just come closer to the cross? Why don't you let me restore and renew my relationship with you? Would you come close?"<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[406,411],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3557,3583,4104,4396,4792,4882,5046,5049,5181],"tax_ctp_topics":[378],"class_list":["post-49162","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-change","tax_ctp_tags-christ-our-righteousness","tax_ctp_tags-growth","tax_ctp_tags-love-for-christ","tax_ctp_tags-relationship","tax_ctp_tags-sanctification","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-formation","tax_ctp_tags-spiritual-growth","tax_ctp_tags-transformation"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\n