Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Romans 23:28
Change comes upon a person most often when facing a crisis. Sometimes, it is just a matter of realizing that you are as fallible as the rest of us. Either way, change comes when people take a long look at their lives.
And then the old ways come back.
Making moral changes in our lives is not good enough. That is like tending to the symptoms of a disease, rather than the cause.
Fact is, we are inherently evil. Romans 3:10 says that "There is none righteous, no, not one." Romans 3:23 adds to that saying, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God."
"But I am a good man (or woman)," one might say. I give to the charities and volunteer at an orphanage; or I am tolerant and treat people kindly. I don't sin. Sin is committed by bad people."
Romans 5:12 states that "...as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned."
Romans 6:23 continues to tell us that "...the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
Romans 5:8 "But God commandeth his live toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ dies for us."
Romans 10:13 "For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Romans 10:9-10 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."
Don't forget that our spirits are dead with sin, and God came to Earth to live as a man, and to die as the perfect sacrifice. John 1:1-4,10-11,14 says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not anything made by that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth."
John 3:16-17 "
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved."Okay, you may realize that you need to believe in Jesus Christ, but simple belief is not enough. You must believe with your mind and soul, to the point that your works begin to reflect your living and growing faith, not because you have to (dead faith), but because you desire that your works reflect moral fruit because of your loving relationship with Him. The demons believe that Christ died for our sins, but that belief alone does not pull them into the graces of God.Works alone, however, as some believe, cannot save your soul as some may claim. Ephesians 2:8-9 reads, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."Then when there is no longer an absence of God in our lives can we truly change. Outward change does nothing. We must change within. Jesus warned the Pharisees, "Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also."When people truly find Jesus Christ it changes their lifestyle.
