A Change

Yesterday (30-04-08) saw our internet service provider change from Tiscali to Sky. One minute we were Tiscalians and the next we were Sky...ians, no hastle, no hinderances!
In fact it's faster and cheaper and we still have no limits on our usage! Things couldn't get better!

Things change - like in football, a footballer can play for one team, wearing the jersy with pride and having fans call out their name. A few weeks later their stripes may have changes, as they are sold to another team and a new set of fans cheer them on as the old ones cry 'Boo'.

There is a change on offer for every human being ever born! We all descend from Adam, and we are all sinners, falling short of glorifying God as we ought. We are each one born with a natural inclination toward sin and objects of God's holy wrath and anger over sin. We are seperated from God by our sin. One mark of this is that we are all headed toward the grave - Genesis 3 19.

But Jesus came, lived and died, taking the wrath of God over our sin, and rising from the dead, defeating death itself.
Now, anyone who simply 'believes' on Jesus is changed. Because of Him we can receive forgiveness for sins and brought into a deep relationship with God, having the assurance of eternal life in Heaven-even after death on Earth.

Isaiah says it this way:

But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment, And who will declare His generation? For He was cut off from the land of the living; For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked-But with the rich at His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was any deceit in His mouth.
Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, And the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many, For He shall bear their iniquities. (Isaiah 53:5-11)

And in 2Corinthians 5:17 we read:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

A change, just like that! Jesus changes lives, gives new desires - to love Him, to desire His Word, to desire righteousness, HE ALONE can change the human condition called SIN.