Real Change

Don't you wish change was easy?

I saw a story on the news a while back about a doctor who had developed a radical new treatment for people with dwarfism.  These are people who will never even approach a normal adult height, who are tired of being stared at, of being called “midgets” or worse.  The idea of a medical procedure that can make them taller is something many are very excited about.  Here’s the way it works:  A doctor breaks your legs in several places.  He then screws pins into the bones and uses them to stretch those broken bones apart and hold them apart.  Then, as the bone tries to fuse itself back together, as God designed it to do, the body is forced to produce new bone to fill in that gap.  Therefore, the leg bone is longer when it heals than it was before it was broken.  It takes months for this very painful procedure to be completed, including several visits to the doctor in which the bones are broken and stretched.  During the treatment, the patient is bound to a wheelchair with rods in his legs.  There is significant pain involved, and since the procedure is elective, insurance doesn’t cover it. But the doctor had real hope that patients could expect to be two or three inches taller when it was all over.  

Truth is, change is hard.  And that’s just superficial change; a change of appearance.  What about the change that really counts?  There are a lot of people in the world today who have terrible, destructive habits that they would love to get rid of.  They want to change, they’ve tried to change…is there hope for them?  Then there are people who have damaged their lives in some way.  Maybe it was one wrong choice, or maybe a series of bad decisions, but one way or another, there is some sin in their past that they just can’t forgive themselves for.  What these people wouldn’t give to start all over, to have a re-do on life.  But that simply doesn’t exist, does it?  And then there are people who are simply ready to give up on life.  They’ve tried everything they know of to find happiness, but nothing works.  They’re convinced that whatever life is all about, they just aren’t destined to find it.  Maybe if they could trade places with someone, start a new life…but that only happens in movies.

 

Plenty of doctors promise to change your outward appearance.  But only the Holy Spirit of God has the power to produce real change in a human life.  The fact that you have read this far tells me that you are at least willing to entertain the possibility that God might have the answers.  Does He ever.  If you want change, this Sunday at Westbury Baptist, we will talk about what the Holy Spirit can do in your life.