POWER TO CHANGE

A scorpion, unable to swim, asked a turtle to carry him on his back across the river. "Are you crazy?" said the turtle. "You'll sting me and I'll drown." "My dear turtle," laughed the scorpion, "If I were to sting you, you may drown but I'd drown with you. Now where is the logic in that?" "You're right," said the turtle, "Hop on!" The scorpion climbed aboard and halfway across the river suddenly gave the turtle a mighty sting. As they both began to sink, the turtle sighed and said, "Why did you do it? You said there'd be no logic in your stinging me.  Why'd you do it anyway?" The drowning scorpion sadly replied, "Stinging you has nothing to do with logic; it's just my nature."

"That's just the way I am." "It's human nature." How often have we said or heard that?  It's the logic of a person who believes there's little hope for self or others to change. Or it's someone who wants to be excused for wrong actions. "It isn't my fault - he made me do it!" says the child - and also some adults. Whether on the playground or in the courtroom, it's our nature to point the finger, to blame others. Someone else did it, but not me, because if it was me, I'll have to accept the consequences, and that's against my nature.

Early in my ministry I remember hearing an old fellow tell me, "That's the way people are, Pastor; you'd better get used to it." But I never have. I've always wanted to be a part of change for the better. I've always thought leading a church and preaching and teaching the Gospel would change people for the better. I finally realized that I can't change anyone except myself.

People don't change people - God does. He brings us experiences that change our lives. He takes away the oldness of sin and replaces it with newness of His love. He removes our sins, but then seeks to change us to be more like Christ. St. Paul tell us in 2 Corinthians 5:17, "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come." 

God isn't satisfied with our old human nature. He wants to change us into something better than we are. And He can love us enough to make that change happen.

God loves us just the way we are, but He may not leave us that way for long.