Have you ever had a complete change of heart?
Maybe you, like me, hated pickles as a child but now you think they are a delicious and guilt-free crunchy snack. (Unless they are sweet pickles. Then they are still an abomination).
Or maybe, like my husband, you once hated country music so much that you asked your parents to find you a different dentist so you didn’t have to suffer in the waiting room, but then you met a country-loving girl who helped you see the light?
Certainly you can think of areas in your life where you’ve changed your mind, gained new perspective or learned you were flat-out wrong.
Maybe the most dramatic example of this occurring in scripture is the Conversion of Saul/Paul. At the beginning of Acts chapter 9 he is a violent villain and by the end he is a prayerful, penitent preacher. He went from the persecutor to the persecuted in one page. That’s a big change of heart and mind and lifestyle! Thank you Jesus!
I find it helpful to remember who I would be without Christ. Lost. Lonely. Afraid. Insecure. Those are words that describe me according to the flesh–me without the Holy Spirit. But I would also be choosing to walk in the way of “PEWSAGL”, or the seven-deadlies, as I memorized them in college: Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Avarice, Gluttony, and Lust. What a blessed change of heart and mind and lifestyle. Thank you Jesus.
I urge you to take some time as a family this weekend and discuss who you would be without Jesus. How would you be described at the start of your chapter? How has he changed you? What is the latest change of heart He has given you? What a gift it is to have a Father who continues to guide us and teach us. It is a good thing to celebrate what God is continuing to do in our lives.
