can people change?
I find it funny (read: sad) in life that the people who should be most acquainted with transformed lives are the least likely to believe that people can change.
If you look to a lot of the great heros of the Christian faith, many of them were rescued out of the darkest pit of sin and destruction when they were transformed by the power of the Gospel. Take Paul for example, when he writes, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." Paul was a legalist, a persecutor, a blasphemer and a murderer before God reached down and saved him.
Or take Augustine of Hippo for example. Here was a man who was absolutely enslaved to sexual sin and who lived totally and completely for his own pleasure. In his sin, he once uttered a famous prayer, "God grant me chastity and continence (self-control), but not yet." Here was a man totally devoted to his own desires and pleasures who completely rejected any notion of morality or of the truth of the cross.
But then something happened. He encountered the transforming power of the Gospel and his life (and the history of the world) was tranformed forever. He abandoned his immoral relationships, he confessed his sins to the Lord and actually documented his confessions in one of the most influential books ever written. He developed as a leading theologian whose thoughts and work continue to challenge and influence even the greatest theologians of our day.
If you are a follower of Christ, then you have to believe that the Spirit that worked in the life of Paul and Augustine is still moving and working today. And indeed if you believe that, then you should strive to put your hope and trust completely in the transforming power of the Gospel. I think ultimately our unwillingness to believe that people can change comes from our lack of faith in the gospel and in the power of Christ. It shows the weakness of our own faith and the remnant of sin that is still rotting in our hearts.
Who in your life are you unwilling to let be transformed by the gospel?
If you look to a lot of the great heros of the Christian faith, many of them were rescued out of the darkest pit of sin and destruction when they were transformed by the power of the Gospel. Take Paul for example, when he writes, "Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost." Paul was a legalist, a persecutor, a blasphemer and a murderer before God reached down and saved him.
Or take Augustine of Hippo for example. Here was a man who was absolutely enslaved to sexual sin and who lived totally and completely for his own pleasure. In his sin, he once uttered a famous prayer, "God grant me chastity and continence (self-control), but not yet." Here was a man totally devoted to his own desires and pleasures who completely rejected any notion of morality or of the truth of the cross.But then something happened. He encountered the transforming power of the Gospel and his life (and the history of the world) was tranformed forever. He abandoned his immoral relationships, he confessed his sins to the Lord and actually documented his confessions in one of the most influential books ever written. He developed as a leading theologian whose thoughts and work continue to challenge and influence even the greatest theologians of our day.
If you are a follower of Christ, then you have to believe that the Spirit that worked in the life of Paul and Augustine is still moving and working today. And indeed if you believe that, then you should strive to put your hope and trust completely in the transforming power of the Gospel. I think ultimately our unwillingness to believe that people can change comes from our lack of faith in the gospel and in the power of Christ. It shows the weakness of our own faith and the remnant of sin that is still rotting in our hearts.
Who in your life are you unwilling to let be transformed by the gospel?
Labels: augustine, gospel, grace, substitutionary atonement
