You Can Actually Change

Paul said it out loud so the rest of us didn’t have to: “I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway” (Romans 7:19, NLT). If you’ve ever tried to break a pattern — a reaction you can’t seem to stop, a habit you’ve quit a dozen times, a way of relating to people that keeps hurting them and you — you know exactly what he means. We know what we should do. We just can’t seem to do it. So how do people actually change? Not just white-knuckle the behavior for a season, but genuinely, deeply change? In John 15, Jesus gives us the most honest and practical answer anyone has ever offered. He doesn’t give us a self-improvement plan. He says, “I am the true grapevine… Apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:1, 5, NLT). This is Part 6 of our I AM series at Newbreak — a San Diego church with campuses in Tierrasanta, Scripps Ranch, and Ocean Beach — and this week’s message is one that hits close to home for all of us.