Changes Save

People are thinking about it. People are hearing sermons about it. People are reading articles about it. People are being effected daily on a personal level. People are regretting their past behavior and are evaluating ways to change their behavior. People are talking to family and friends about it. People are soliciting the assistance of others to help them change. People are hearing national leaders addressing the problem. People are thinking about their children having to face the problem. People are teaching their children responsibility concerning it. People are counting the cost of changing – and of not changing. People are taking steps to change. So, what’s happening? Have people all of a sudden begun to listen to preachers and study their Bibles? Unfortunately, no. The foretold description of people feeling the need to change has nothing to do with sin. Though the subject might at first glance appear to be about sin and repentance, it’s actually about gasoline consumption. People are seeing for themselves the high cost of dependence on petroleum. Because of the inflated cost of crude oil we are paying more for virtually every product and service we purchase. I’m amazed by the sweeping effects of the current gas crisis. Yet, there’s really no mystery about it. People change when they see the need to change, especially when it involves their money. There’s something else about this crisis. Because people are being effected personally, they see the need to help others change as well. It seems we all realize we must change our own behavior and also know it will be better for all concerned if we persuade others to do the same. Prices at the pump are coming down because nationwide drivers are driving less miles in more fuel efficient vehicles. Personally, a few years back I bragged on my 20 mpg average minivan but not anymore. The discouraging part about trying to improve fuel mileage on most vehicles is, it can’t be done if it’s already performing at it’s best. It’s mechanical and no matter how kindly I talk to it, my vehicle doesn’t care about my wallet. I either put gas in it or it doesn’t run. My vehicle is heartless and will leave me on the side of the road in a heartbeat. That reminds me. I better get to the filling station this afternoon.
[1 John 2: 15-17] We can also talk all day long about sin and it’s consequences, but a person will not move in the direction of repentance and change until they know it applies to them personally and are persuaded that change is something they can and should do. I think too many people look at religion and salvation as something they have to purchase and at the moment it happens to be an unnecessary commodity. Most people are just too busy in the world achieving personal gain to be bothered with getting prepared for the next life. In all his lectures and sermons I wonder how many times Jesus said, “He who has ears, let him hear.” Jesus was appealing to our intelligence of understanding that what he was teaching was the awakening and the maturing of the spirit of man. Remember, man is made in the image of God. God is spirit, thus man is first, spirit. To have an everlasting relationship with God we must learn to think spiritually and live as God would have us to live. That, my friends, is where salvation is found. It can’t be bought. It’s already paid for. Jesus purchased your salvation with his life, a gift to you from God. All you have to do is receive it in love and understanding. God is love. (1 John 4:16) God’s love will never run out, leaving you on the road alone.