Scripture: Jeremiah 13:22-23
And if you ask yourself, "Why has this happened to me?"--it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated. Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.
I was very intrigued by this passage and I pondered it for quite a while. I thought about how so many people promise to make changes in their life. The world has become a vacuum for Satan's ugly disguises of satisfaction and desired lifestyles. As we slowly make our way in becoming accustomed to the world of sinful lusts and desires, it's not very noticeable to us. Satan knows how to lure you slowly and slyly so that you don't really feel you have fallen. You reach a point, though, where you stop and actually realize where life has taken you. It disgusts you just to think of all the disgrace and damage you've brought to your body and life. You ask the same question Jeremiah asked, "Why has this happened to me?". Or possibly, "How did I get into this mess?". I think it's a question we all ask ourselves no matter how far into sin we've crept.
We do realize, then, that there must be some sort of change. We know that we must make an effort to make our lifestyles different. But, it's not that easy to do. I mean, if it was so easy, people would be coming back to the Lord and more lives would be brought into the Kingdom again. But, the changes are not usually easy to come about. Now, don't get me wrong, the changes desired are wonderful and the attitudes of people who want to change is terrific! But, change must be backed by great effort and determination to leave the world of sin. Yes, we will still be living within the world plagued with sin, but we don't have to indulge into the cravings.
If we are accustomed to doing evil, change is going to take quite some time. I've talked to enough people who have been buried in the entrapment of sin. They have just gone deeper and deeper and deeper. In this way, change cannot just "happen". There must be great effort exerted in order to start climbing out of the pit of sin. God has promised all things are possible. No matter how deep you've gotten, there's still a way out, and God will help you find it. However, the effort for change must come from you. Without the effort, you slip further away from God's healing and deliverance.
Don't expect quick change to come in all situations. The effort, though, will make you stronger than you could possibly imagine.
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