THE NEW BIRTH CHANGES PEOPLE

On January 31, 1971, I knelt in my living room, and accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.  The day before, I had been an atheist, an alcoholic, and a man capable of committing every vile sin there is.  But on that morning, I became aware of three things:  the Bible was the truth, my sins were paid for, and I would become a preacher of the Gospel.  Although it took twenty years, I was called to be the Pastor of a small Baptist Church in Kentucky. 

But this post is not about me.  It is about my precious wife, Judy (it has taken me years to realize what a wonderful wife she is, and for that, I am truly sorry)! 

About six weeks after I accepted Christ, my wife realized that what had happened to me was different from any experience she had ever had.  She was raised a Roman Catholic, but she did not understand what had happened to me.  Don't get me wrong; I was still the same idiot she had tolerated for nine years, but the change in me had been significant enough to want the same in her life. 

On March 17th, she invited the Pastor of West Pensacola Baptist Church, David Shoffner, to come to our home to talk about what it means to be born again.  David showed Judy a penny.  He asked, "Whose penny is this?"  She said it was his.  Then he said, "I want you to have this penny."  He held it out to her, and she took it.  Then he said, "When did that penny become yours?"  She said, "When I took it."  Then David said that salvation, being born again, is like that.  Jesus offers to give us His righteousness, in exchange for our sin (2 Cor. 5:21).  Then he asked her, "If Jesus is offering to save you from your sins, and He is offering you eternal life, when do they become yours?"  Judy said, "When I accept them." 

That St. Patrick's Day, there in the same living room where I had knelt but weeks earlier, Judy placed her faith in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior.  She had always believed in Him, but she had never placed her full trust in Him.  That day, Judy changed.  When one is truly born again, he changes!  Oh, we don't become perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but God begins the process of changing us into the image of His Son (Rom. 8:29; Phil. 1:6), a metamorphosis that culminates in our total transformation when we are finally face-to-face with our Lord (1 Jn. 3:2)!  I can't wait!!!!!!!

Today, I celebrate Judy's new birth with praise for the One who changes us!