Do You Want to Change?

“What a wretched man I am!
Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God– through Jesus
Christ our Lord!” (Romans 7:24–25a)

From time to time, we all see areas in our lives that we
struggle with; areas that we wish could be different.  It might be moral failures, or we’re discouraged
about the bad habits that plague us.  How
does God want us to approach those areas?  Is there a way to find freedom and real
change?  Yes!

Change is possible; in fact, it’s God’s plan for our
lives.

Have you ever been in a situation where you are getting
to know someone, and way down deep inside you say, “I hope they don’t find out
the truth about me?”  Or you may tell a
good friend, “Please don’t tell anyone about this.”  When we enter a relationship with God, we may
think that He is like we are.  We think
that we need to hide our bad part from Him.  However, if we try to hide unacceptable parts
of our personality, we can lose touch with God.

God is not like this.  His ways are not our ways.  He doesn’t accept our good part and reject our
bad part. He sees us as a whole person.  He
doesn’t see us as a split personality.  God
says, “Don’t try to make your bad part better.  It’s impossible on your own.  Give me your good part and your bad part and
let me make you whole.”

We live in culture that continually seeks
self-improvement.  We spend a great deal
of time analyzing ourselves and trying to figure out how to make the bad part
better.  We go shopping for better
clothes, the latest self-help books, or go to the gym focusing time, energy,
and money on improving what we consider to be the bad part.  And the part we can’t improve, or we haven’t
improved yet, we try to hide.

Those times when we become aware of aspects in our lives
we know are wrong, such as poor decisions, habits, behavior that we are ashamed
of, or areas we want God to change, but where we’re afraid of His condemnation,
are the times we need God’s grace the most.  If we have received Christ into our hearts, we
have been declared His own, forgiven, and now under His grace.  It is His grace that frees us and changes us.  This is why it is so important to know what
Scripture says about God’s grace.

Like the Apostle Paul, we must admit, “Wretched man that I am”
(Romans 7:24a)!  The word wretched means inadequate or miserable, exhausted
from hard labor.  Paul felt so used up
from trying to change himself that he came to a point of desperation.

In effect, he admitted, “God, I want to be different.  I won’t shield myself from the darkness in my
heart anymore.  I want to become the
person You want me to be.  So I’m going
to face up to who I really am.” We can’t change without recognizing our own
wretchedness.  Change begins with the
genuine, humble, contrite admission, “I’m the problem.”

Only God can change our hearts.  After Paul’s long description of his
sinfulness and his inability to change himself, he simply says, “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me
from this body of death?” (Romans 7:24)   

At this point, some readers probably feel
frustrated with Paul.  “Paul, I agree with you and I see my desperate
condition, I’m ready for the answer, and that’s all you give me?”

It’s so simple that we almost miss it.  The answer is Jesus Christ! He wants to change
our hearts.  In our desperation, we need
to come to Him and ask Him to do what only He can do.

Does God still change people?  Yes!  And
He wants to change you!

“Let us then approach the throne of grace with
confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time
of need.” (Hebrews 4:16

Can God change
your life?

God has made it
possible for you to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.

Discover how you
can find peace with God.