In the early years of my spiritual journey, I often heard people pray, “Lord, get him!” —sometimes with judgmental vindictiveness. This troubled me, but I didn’t know why.
One day my eyes fell on St. Paul’s words and the Holy Spirit caused me to see something I’d been blind to: it is the kindness of God that brings us to change.
…do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4)
Repentance means to change direction, to turn around and go the other way. Some major change comes about where we see things differently and go in a new direction.
If we look back at our New Year’s resolutions throughout the years, we must ask our self how many of them were we able to keep. If I am honest, I have to say none of them—not one. We may have changed our church or even our theology or doctrine, but deep changes that affect how we respond to life—to our partner, to our family, or to some major disappointments—are almost nonexistent.
Psychologist David Benner found that genuine changes on the inside of a person are quite rare. We may adapt to some expectation or pressures from people around us, but deep changes in the structures or core of our personalities are almost impossible. As one little brother said when told to sit down in church: “I may be sitting down, but inside I am still standing.“
Ralph Nault says, “It takes tremendous pressures, as a rule, to bring us to change. We can say we are sorry easy enough, but yet being sorry isn’t enough, because repentance is a change of direction inside of us. This is one of the basic things of Christianity. Jesus has come so that we can be different: He says, ‘you will see the truth, and the truth will set you free.’ So all of a sudden you see something in a new way; an act of repentance comes about, and you begin to function in a different way.”
Other religions teach that we can change by perfecting ourselves. If we try hard enough, have enough rules, if we belong to the right organization, behave ourselves, then we can perfect ourselves. In Christianity, when we are born again, a new creation is formed within us. And through the indwelling Holy Spirit genuine transformation begins to take place. The other worldviews don’t offer this— you do it, you make yourself a new creature.
In Christianity, God promises us that, if we allow it, if we go to Him, He will cause something new to happen inside of us and we will be restored; the old things will pass away, and everything will become new. It doesn’t hinge upon our work and our efforts to do so; it hinges upon the power of God, because we are allowing it to work in our lives to transform us into a new being.
God promises us a new way of functioning after Jesus has finished his work on the cross. He couldn’t do it before then, because he needed to remove every hindrance that was in the way from God functioning within us. He says that after Jesus has finished his work on the cross, he will put a new mind in us and give us a new heart. “I will put my laws in their hearts and I will write them on their minds.” We are going to be new.
Psychologists know that love, not fear, is the best motivation for change. Benner suggests love can open us to a spiritual awakening. Dr. M. Scott Peck describes love as “the willingness to extend oneself for the purpose of nurturing one’s own or another’s spiritual growth.”
According to St. Paul, love is the greatest. In 1884 an English man named Henry Drummond spoke on the subject of love, and it was made into a little devotional book that has sold millions in the years since: “The Greatest Thing in the World.”
Genuine love ultimately is everything. It is a requirement for both spiritual and psychological well-being. We must come to know in the deepest fibers of our being that we are loved.
…love is patient and kind and never fails. (I Corinthians 13:4-8)