Fiver hundred years ago on October 31, 1517, Martin Luther lit the fire of the Reformation Movement. While many individuals and groups had tried to make corrections in the past, the nailing of his 95 Thesis to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany brought the problems to the forefront of public discussion.

Just as those individuals needed reform, we need to be constantly reforming our lives. The Bible presents several reforms among God’s people.

“Now when all this was finished, all Israel that were present went out to the cities of Judah, and brake the images in pieces, and cut down the groves, and threw down the high places and the altars out of all Judah and Benjamin, in Ephraim also and Manasseh, until they had utterly destroyed them all.”—2 Chronicles 31:1.

Reform has to be continual in our hearts all the time. Just as there were idols to be torn down in the Old Testament, there are idols in our heart which must continuously be torn down. Sometimes, our renovations begin, not with idolatry, but with false practices which must be corrected.

Reform also has to do with what must be built or established. When Josiah’s time of reform began, they discovered the Word of God in the Temple. What sort of building reforms need to be made in our hearts and religious practices? Are we reading, worshiping, serving, living by faith as God would have us to be?

What can we do to reform our lives? What can we do to reform our hearts? What can we do to reform our minds?