Change of Heart
The world is full of people who are not only unsaved, but living in a way that is directly against what God would want us to be. Most of these people we would agree need to be saved, but a lot of us would also say that we don’t see how that would be possible. Not only is it possible for God to save these people, it’s also entirely possible that He could use them in a way we’d never expect. The Bible has many examples of this, today I’m going to look at two in particular.
The first person I’m looking at is the Apostle Paul. Here was a man who literally made it his life mission to persecute Christians. He vehemently opposed to the Gospel and Christians. I think it’s safe to say that most people did not ever expect him to change. However, Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, and Paul converted. God then used him as a missionary to lead people to Christ and to strengthen the churches. Not only that, but God also used him to write a large portion of the New Testament. God took a man dedicated to eradicating the church, and turned him around so that he could help build it up stronger than before.
The next person I’m looking at is Rahab, the harlot that the Israelite spies to Jericho hid with. Here is a woman that lived her life completely against the laws of God. How many people would expect a person like that to just give her life over to God, and change? Probably not many of us would expect that. But God used her in a way very few people in the Bible were used. Not only did she give her life over to God, she got mentioned in Hebrews 11, as a woman of faith. She also had a son named Boaz, who married Ruth, whose son was the great-grandfather of King David. God used a harlot in direct ancestry of Jesus Christ. I think that counts as using someone unexpectedly.
Looking at things a slightly different way, even people who sin greatly can come back around. King David springs to mind fairly quickly. He lived godly life, until he saw a woman named Bathsheba. To make a long story short, he intentionally put her husband in a place to get killed and committed adultery. This was a huge sin, on so many levels. Some people after doing something like that would never come back around. God sent a prophet to David, and David turned his life around. Even after that kind of a sin, God used him, with Bathsheba in the direct ancestry of Jesus.
No matter how bad someone may seem, God can change them, turn them around, and use them greatly in the world for His purpose. Rather than judging these people, we need to pray for them, and witness to them, both in our actions and our words.
