There are a multitude of things that I can and can not do. I can take a handful of raw ingredients and make a delicious cheesecake. I can take a brush and a palette of paints and paint a beautiful picture, but I cannot change a person’s heart. Yet, God can change anyone! I have seen this with my own eyes. I have seen men who were drunkards, adulterers, thieves, and murderers change when they felt the conviction of the Holy Spirit, and their wills changed to God’s will.
Our first example of a powerful God changing heart is Saul’s in Act 9:1-2 Saul is a devout Jew, persecuting Christians because their religion was a threat to the Jew’s religion. He was standing watching in approval when Stephen was murdered by stoning. “And Saul, yet breathing out threatening’s and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.” To the Jews, he was a noble man defending his faith, but to everyone else he was a murderer.
He left Jerusalem and headed to Damascus to persecute more Christians. In Acts 9: 3-6, Jesus speaks to Him from Heaven, and he is converted. “Suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.”
When Paul met Jesus, everything changed. From the day he was saved, he was on a mission to tell everyone about the saving power of Jesus. His heart’s desire was changed by God. He went from being a murderer to a sold-out instrument to tell others about a lifesaving Savior. He became one of the greatest followers of Jesus Christ in the world.
In John chapter 4, we read about the woman Jesus met at the well. She had come to the well in the middle of the day and met Jesus, who changed her life forever. She was an adulteress who had been married 5 times and was now living with a man who was not her husband. If you read the full story in John 4:1-30, you will see this person was someone most respectable people would have shunned. Some believe the reason for her coming in the heat of the day was to avoid the harsh words of other women. Yet, Jesus made a point of speaking to her and introducing her to eternal life.
John 4:16-18 “Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband: For thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband: in that said thou truly.”
Paul and the woman at the well lived lives that to us would seem so awful that we would they would be destined to Hell, but God changed them. He has the power to change anyone, no matter their sins or circumstances. He is able to take the drug addict, the rapist, the pedophile, and the hardest of criminals, in our opinion, and change their lives to be born-again believers that bring glory to Him. God can change anyone. Yet, He wants to use us to be agents of His to spread His life-changing word. He calls us to be His ambassadors. This is the most important calling any of us can answer. It yields us the opportunity to be a part of changing the eternal destination of people from Hell to Heaven. We all have 24 hours in each day, and we choose how we will spend them. Think about how you spend your time and ask yourself where you can make changes to do something that will have eternal value. If we allow God to use us, He will change people’s hearts. There is no one who has sinned so much that He cannot change.
