I was asked by a prisoner, “How do we change our hearts? He was so sincere in his longing to change but was obviously bound by a revolving door of repentance and failure. I got the sense that he had been to dozens of church meetings, bible studies, addiction counselling meetings, etc… How many times he most likely heard the truth and accepted it, but then turned back! He could recite scripture and nod his head in honest belief, but every time, when the help he sought came, he turned back to the lifestyle that relied heavily on his own strength and wisdom, and not God’s. Drugs are not the most powerful addiction in this mans life. Ego is! The addiction to self is the #1 reason why we fall back into sin. Think about it; every sin that we commit is done with a disregard for obedience to God which is required of us through Jesus Christ outside of our earthly desires. The sin itself comes from within and is manifested on the outside. It’s easy to recognize a person whose faith and trust are solely in God and those who are only half-way in. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18). Those with no drug or alcohol problems may need to validate themselves through what they earn from the praise and adoration of other human beings. What vanity and vexation to our souls; to have to be validated by people who are just as sinful as we are — just as imperfect in the sight of God when the blood of Jesus is not present! For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23). Sin demands a wage, but the Gift of God requires praise! True humility before God relies on the humility of Christ’s sufferings and on the power of His resurrection. The most basic desire that we have as human beings is identification. If we feel we have no identification we will try to create one. This is where pride snares us. We start looking away from Jesus — who has told us numerous times in different ways to walk with Him, to come out of the boat (so to speak) and walk on water with Him. I’m reminded of the words of Jesus in John 15:5-8:
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
We cannot change our own hearts. The heart that doesn’t know Christ is dead and forced to labor for acceptance where no love abounds. Real love abounds in God’s Spirit and Truth. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24). Only those who come to God in spirit and truth can claim victory over sin and death through Jesus who was raised from the dead. There is no other way to come to God except through Jesus. As the blood gives life to the body so the Spirit gives life to the Word of God (Truth). Christians tend to forget that they must take up their cross daily and follow , being sustained by the true bread and wine from heaven!
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him (John 6:53-56).
He was talking about the Truth (Word) and Spirit (Blood). Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth (John 17:17). Without nourishment from the body and blood of Jesus we have no chance of succeeding against our lusts and desires that war against the flesh. We can succeed momentarily, but in the end we go the way of all men who have come before us. Obedience is the key to faith in Christ! Without faith it is impossible to please Him (Hebrews 11:6). Our faith is manifest by our obedience. It is the key to resisting the devil and the lust that wars in our members! Of course we want the world and its pleasures. Without Christ those desires are as vain and hopeless as an insect wanting the false light of the porch at night (there will always be webs around it to catch you). Any person coming to God must be broken and reassembled into a person formed by His Spirit. Now abides faith, hope, and Love; these three, but the greatest of these is Love – (1 Corinthians 13:13). Why is Love greater than faith and hope? Because Love is the only one of the three that is outside of ourselves and independently powerful; offered without blemish and without spot to those who really see the filth and want to be fully cleaned.
