Changed Heart: You really can’t tell what’s in another person’s heart. Are they disingenuous? Or are they disillusioned? Are they for real? Some will tell you that the outward signs will tell of an inward transformation, but that in itself is not a complete answer to the question.
Probably no issue is more contentious than the claim that a person makes to being a “born again Christian.” For starters it’s a repetition in terms. If you are “born again” you are Christian. More on that later.
A changed heart?
Years ago there was a man in our Tuesday night bible class who had just gotten out of prison, but was facing more prison time on an unresolved issue. He was friendly and fit in well with the group. He was intelligent, articulate and participated in the discussions.
The pastor of our church heard his story and invited him to come before the congregation to share his story. As expected, it was moving, dramatic and he said all the right things. So what’s wrong with that?
As the weeks went by, it was apparent that his lawyer was not making good progress towards resolving his incarceration time issues, and it was just a matter of time before he would have to return to a minimal secure facility to serve out the rest of his sentence.
When that day arrived and he returned to prison, that’s when his spiritual journey took an interesting turn. We received weekly letters, long flowery pages of prose, filled with religious jargon.
His letters read like something a man would write to convince himself of something he didn’t really believe. Maybe religion would make him feel better. Maybe he was just putting on a show for us, so I went with a friend to see him.
He was happy for the visit and went to great lengths to tell us how wonderful everything was under the circumstances. He only had a short time to serve. But there was something missing, a deepening and lasting faith. He was not trusting in God, but trusting in his own ability to fool us and fool himself.
We are not promised happiness
Jesus did not promise happiness. He did not promise wealth and prosperity. Jesus did promise to be with us, in us and would work through us. He grants us His shalom, His peace.
Jesus knows when we are sad and miserable and He comforts. I’ve had those kind of days and I’ve experienced His shalom. What I was seeing from the man in our group was a con. What he was missing was a deeper, personal relationship with Jesus. It’s the kind of relationship that takes us on a journey of self-reflection and really causes us to look into the mirror and see our real selves.
The real relationship is born out of love. Jesus loves us and we learn to love Him. It is our response to God. Jesus said:
3 Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:1-3)
What does a changed heart look like?
Jesus describes it further in Corinthians, what does it mean to be a changes heart in Christ.
“For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation ; the old has gone, the new has come!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:13-21)
A NEW creation in Christ
Change, real change, is the byproduct of our growing relationship with Christ. Those “in Christ” are a new creation.