Changed

“Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance…”
Matthew 3:8

In other words, faith has got 'feet' - That's right!
If we go to James 1:22, this is clearly what the Lord Jesus Christ is saying to us:

“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

In other words, don’t just tell folk that you love them, show them that you love them by your lifestyle... that you are changed. There has got to be a change in a person’s life when they meet that Carpenter from Galilee, the Lord Jesus Christ. I would go so far as to say it is impossible to carry on with your lifestyle like before once you have met the Lord.

When you meet Him there is heart surgery that takes place. Just like the chief tax collector, that short little man Zacchaeus, remember? He climbed up the tree so that he could see Jesus? We go to Luke 19, we will see that he was a very rich tax collector but Jesus said, “I am coming to your house today to have a meal with you.”

“Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold.” (Four hundred percent of anything that I have taken from anyone.)
Luke 19:8

Now you see, there has been a change from being chief tax collector... He was now giving his money to the poor. And what did Jesus say, What was the Lord’s response?

If you look at verse 9 He said: “Today salvation has come to this house…”

I remember many years ago as a new Christian, Jill and I were invited to the minister’s house to have Bible Study. After one or two weeks I was quite confused because this minister, Errol, wasn’t very kind to me. One night when we were having tea after Bible Study I said, “Can I speak to you for a minute?” He said, “Yes.”

I said, “Can I ask you a question, why are you so unkind to me?”

He looked at me and he said, “Angus, I have to confess, I thought you were acting. I didn’t really think that there was a change in your life because I knew about you before. I thought maybe you were coming to the Bible Study for your wife’s sake.” And of course, after that, we became very close friends.

Just like Paul, possibly the greatest of all apostles, even the disciples didn’t trust the change in his life - They couldn’t believe it. It took years before they accepted him.

What about you today? I would like to pray a little prayer with you in closing this Sunday morning... Please pray this prayer after me if you feel you want to:

Dear Lord,

Please forgive me for so often not showing fruits worthy of repentance. Forgive me for doubting you, for giving a spirit of fear to those people round about me, Lord, for speaking negative words.

Lord, please let there be a change in my life.
Let the love of Christ flow from me to those around me,
starting with my own family.
I ask this in Jesus Name, Amen.

God bless you and have a wonderful Sunday.