Tag Archives: Change

A Change of Heart – From Darkness into the Light of Christ

24 Thursday Sep 2015

Posted by in Bible, Christian, Christianity, Faith, God, Inspiration, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Life, Love, Spiritual

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Surgical procedures have been a part of human and medical history for quite some time. The purpose of performing surgery is to either remove an infected or non-working body part or to replace it with a fully functioning part that enhances one’s life while increasing longevity. Such procedures include the amputation of limbs, removing cancerous cells and tumors, and even knee replacement. There is also such a surgery called a ‘heart transplant.’

The very first heart transplant took place on December 3rd, 1963, in Cape Town South Africa. A man by the name of Lewis Washkansky who was 53 years old received a new heart from a 25-year-old woman by the name of Denise Darvall. At the time, it was a revolutionary surgery which paved the way for future heart transplants worldwide. Such a medical advancement has led to those with chronic heart ailments suddenly finding a 2nd chance at life even if it means living an extra 5-7 years.

The concept of a heart transplant is to exchange a heart that is in poor condition for a heart that is considerably healthier. Spiritually speaking, all of us have an opportunity to experience a change within our heart because of God through Jesus Christ. In the book of Ezekiel Chapter 11, Ezekiel who was one of the many prophets that God used is seen recounting a vision that God had given to him. This vision encompassed Ezekiel seeing the leaders of Israel being judged for their allowance of sin.

In verses 1-12 of this chapter, Ezekiel speaks to Jaazaniah and Pelatiah who are the leaders of Israel. God gives Ezekiel the command to tell them what the Word of God would be towards the leadership and the nation of Israel for their sinfulness and disobedience unto God. In verses 5-12, Ezekiel prophesies the punishment that would occur to the leaders and those who would remain in disobedience.

In verse 13, Pelatiah is then struck dead which leaves Ezekiel wondering what would befall the rest who were in Israel. Here is what God says to Ezekiel in verses 14-16:

(NLV) “Then the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, your brothers, your family, those who were driven out of the land, and all the people of Israel are those of whom the people of Jerusalem have said, ‘They have gone far away from the Lord. This land has been given to us for our own.’ So tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “I sent them far away among the nations. I divided them among the countries. But still I was a holy place for them a little while in the countries where they had gone.”’

Verse 17:

(NLV) “So tell them, ‘This is what the Lord God says: “I will gather you from the nations. I will gather you together out of the countries where you have been divided. And I will give you the land of Israel.””

At that particular time, there was a group of people who were taken into captivity into the land of Babylon. They had left the land of Jerusalem, however, those who were still in Jerusalem were obstinate and believed that the land belonged to them instead. However, God promised to restore those who were exiled, into their rightful place in addition to the fact that God had been their their place of sanctity. Here is what God had also promised in verses 18-21:

(NLV) “When they return to it, they will take away all its hated and sinful things. I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will walk in My Laws and keep them, and obey them. They will be My people, and I will be their God.”

Verse 21:

(NLV) “But as for those whose hearts go after their hated and sinful things, I will bring their actions upon their own heads,” says the Lord God.”

There are a couple of key points that can be extracted from verses 18-21:

  1. God can transform the heart of every human being – All of us are born into sin when we enter into this world. This means that our heart is automatically filled with sinfulness and darkness because of the sin of Adam & Eve. However, the remedy for a transformation of the heart is through Jesus Christ. God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross and He rose again from the dead so that we would be redeemed. However, if you and I have not accepted this gift of life then our heart is still unchanged.

    Jeremiah 17:9 says, (ESV) “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

    Sin is what resides within our heart because of our sinful nature, but we need God through Jesus Christ to renew our heart and to make it pure. Just as a person who has a heart transplant does so to remove a bad or failing heart in exchange for a new one, all of us are in need of a spiritual conversion. It is through the power of the Holy Spirit that our heart can be changed, but we must surrender our lives unto Christ.

  2. The person who remains in their sin will suffer the consequences – In verse 21 of Ezekiel chapter 11, God declares to Ezekiel that those whose hearts are seeking after sinful things will eventually meet their demise based on what they have chosen to do. The fact is that a person whose heart is steeped within sinfulness is a person who will ultimately come to destruction both physically and spiritually. Since wickedness is within our heart from the very beginning, then it is the same wickedness that will lead us down a path that is destructive. The evidence can be seen throughout our world. Crime, political corruption, and various types of self-abuse and even abuse towards others are symptoms of the wickedness that reside within the heart of those without Christ.

    The remedy to such darkness is to be enlightened through Jesus Christ. God wants each of us to experience His fullness and to have our eyes illuminated to who He is and to the world around us. However, all of us must come to a point of surrender which means that we must confess our sins unto Jesus Christ. Without a remission of sin and an acceptance of Jesus Christ, then darkness will continue.

Are you in need of a change of heart? Do you suffer from a heart that is cold and callous and in need of the breath of life? Only Jesus Christ can provide the answer to your cold heart. The world offers many ‘solutions’, but the fact is that none of what is offered works. Jesus Christ is the only solution to a world that writhes in pain at the destruction caused by humanity’s sinfulness. Accept the gift of salvation through Jesus Christ and experience the newness of life.

Changing Your Address – The Concept of Being ‘Dead to Your Sin’

31 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in Bible, Christian, Christianity, Faith, God, Inspiration, Jesus, Jesus Christ, Life, Love, Spiritual

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Most of us have experienced what it is like to move from one residence to another. Moving is one of the most stressful periods of life because it involves taking all that you own and placing it in another residence. It is a time in which the normalcy as it relates to the routine of daily living is interrupted briefly. The purpose for such a move may be because of wanting a change in scenery, increasing space for the family, a job change, or one may be unable to afford their current living situation.

However, when you move from one residence to another, your old address is no longer relevant to your life and where you will be living.  In most cases, once you have moved from one address to another, the old residence will at some point be occupied by someone else.  If that occurs, then you will be unable to live in the property that you moved from because someone else either owns it or it is being rented. Your next residence is what will offer a new way of living, a new beginning, and a fresh start in life. Attempting to go back to what you left behind would defeat the purpose of starting over and gaining a new residence for you and or your family.

The same concept can be applied spiritually to each of our lives.  In an earlier blog post, the principle of being awakened and alive in Jesus Christ was explained by using the scripture from Ephesians 2:1-6. The point of that post was to examine what being dead in our sin means but also knowing what it means to be alive or awakened because of Jesus Christ.  In Romans chapter 6, the Apostle Paul brings up a similar principle but instead, he uses the principle of being ‘dead to sin’ and being ‘alive in Christ.’

There is a fundamental difference between being ‘dead in your sin’ and being ‘dead to your sin.’ To be dead in your sin is living in death or a constant state of decay. Being dead to your sin means that you are no longer bound to the power that sin has over you.  In Romans chapter 6 the Apostle Paul explains it this way:

Verses 1-2:

(NLT) “Well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace? Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?”

First it is important to focus on verse 1 in which Paul is challenging the notion that one can continue sinning and taking advantage of God’s grace.  There are many who have and continue to believe satan’s lie which is that you can continuously sin and expect God’s grace to cover your sin.  It is true that God will forgive us when we sin, however, the expectation that God has of every Christian is to live in holiness and obedience.  This means not willfully sinning and expecting to be in the right position with God.

Of course, you and I are in our human state which means that we will all sin at some point because we are imperfect.  However, many have used that reality as an excuse to continue in sin. Paul answers the question emphatically regarding sinfulness in verse 2 when he says that we should not continue living in sin. However, notice what he says in this verse:

“Of course not! Since we have died to sin, how can we continue to live in it?”

Paul says that we have ‘died’ to sin which means when we have received Christ in our hearts, we are no longer living in sin or alive to our sin.  We have ‘died’ to our sin which means it no longer has power over us. Just like the analogy of living in a new residence and attempting to go back to your old one, that is how God sees us when we accept Christ. It becomes fruitless and it is not practical to live in an old residence when you have a new residence to live in.

Paul continues in verses 3-4:

(NLT) “Or have you forgotten that when we were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, we joined him in his death? For we died and were buried with Christ by baptism. And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” 

The interesting part of these two verses is that the Apostle Paul uses the term, ‘baptism.’ Why does he use this term and why is it relevant to our relationship with Christ? First you must understand the meaning of the word ‘baptize.’ The word ‘baptize’ is actually derived from the Greek word ‘baptizo’ which then comes from the root word ‘bapto.’ This was a term that was used in the first century as it related to immersing a cloth or garment into water with bleach and then with dye in order to change the color of the cloth or garment.

In the historical sense, baptism meant to immerse with the intent of seeing a changed product as the end result.  As it relates to Jesus Christ, the term ‘baptism’ is used in the symbolic sense concerning Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. Paul says that we were “buried with Christ by baptism” which means that when Christ died on the cross, it was the act of His death that started the process of breaking the power of sin.  Jesus was and is our atoning sacrifice for the debt of sin that we could not pay. The burial of Christ is also symbolic as it relates to baptism by water. When someone is baptized they are taken down into the water to symbolize that there is a death and a burial to their sinful nature.

What all of this means is, when we are baptized with Christ, we are essentially dying to our sin which means we can no longer live in it as we did before.  Secondly, Paul says in the latter part of verse 4, “And just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glorious power of the Father, now we also may live new lives.” So, the last part of the process is that there is a resurrection. Jesus Christ did not simply die only to remain dead. However, Jesus died and rose again 3 days later.  

Christ’s rising again from death completed the process of providing new life to us and breaking the power of sin. Even with water baptism the act of getting out of the water symbolizes a resurrection and a newness of life. Regarding water baptism, it should be noted that every Christian should at some point receive the baptism by water.  Water baptism is a public declaration of one’s confession that Jesus is Lord in their life. It is also symbolic of a person’s new life in Christ which means to signify to the world that there has been a shedding of sin or the old nature.

Verses 5-7 in this passage sum up the point that Paul makes to us:

(NLT) “Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised to life as he was. We know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin. For when we died with Christ we were set free from the power of sin.”

So, the overall point is that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord & Savior, our lives change. If we have died to our sin, and we are buried and have been resurrected as Christ was, then our lives are made new. The reason why there are many who can continue in their sin (both those who are not in Christ and those who claim Christianity) is because they have not been truly made new and whole.  That isn’t to say that you and I will never sin again.  However, if our lives resemble exactly what those who are of this world do daily, then we have not allowed Christ to transform us.

If you don’t know Jesus in the remission of your sins, you are living in death.  However, if you want to be dead to your sin and experience life in abundance, then you have an opportunity to accept this gift of life.  Being dead to your sin is to be alive in Jesus Christ. It is only Christ who can change your life and make it brand new.