CHANGE MY HEART, O GOD -- Devotional for October 19, from "Good Seeds"

If any man is in Christ he is a new creation: the old has gone, the new has come! (II Corinthians 5:17)

I’ve been thinking a lot about marriage lately, maybe because I’m so happy with the girl who sought me and caught me so many years ago...(I guess I did my fair share of chasing, too!)...but also because I’ve been talking to some dear Christian friends whose marriages are all but over. In each case, when they first met and got married they truly loved one another -- and I’m confident they love one another still. And yet they have become so dissatisfied and unhappy. She’s looking for some major changes in her husband: “I knew this was a weakness of his when I first met him, but I thought I could change him over once I won him over!” He thought she loved him unconditionally, but now he’s finding out what she loved what her perception of how wonderful he could be once she performed her magic on him! Compare this to when you and I first came to Jesus: He didn’t look us over and say, “Well, you’ve got potential. I’ll take you into My family on condition of the changes I’ll expect to see in you.” That’s how a lot of people view salvation – but that’s not right! Christ expects nothing from us but faith. The goodness and holiness He longs to see in us He gives to us, by His grace. Nevertheless, the story isn’t finished, for we truly are saints in the making. God takes us just as we are, but He loves us too much to leave us that way. But wait! Isn’t that also how it is in human relationships? Yes, but the difference is that it’s still God who makes the changes. We don’t resent it when He does it, whereas we resent very much our friend or spouse trying to fix us! When we finally come to realize that not only is it not our responsibility to change someone else, but that it is also quite outside of our power to do so, it’s actually quite freeing! A husband, for example, has no real power over his wife’s feelings, beliefs, or decisions. She's in the Lord's hands. Not that God ever forces someone to receive Him, but by His Spirit He brings conviction, and by His sovereignty He brings conditions that can work to bring her around to HIS way of thinking, much better than any human being could do. And any preaching or fixing from a spouse will be pointless, even damaging. I Corinthians 7:15 says one is "not under obligation in such cases." He is not ultimately responsible if she strays from the Lord, even as he has not the power to draw her back. That power resides in God alone. But that's why we pray, for "Where prayer is focused, power falls." A wife won’t be won by her husband’s persistence or insistence, or by his superior arguments, but rather by seeing Christ in him. Let God bring conviction; let Him orchestrate the conditions. In the meantime you just keep loving, keep praying, and keep trusting!