Thursday, August 03, 2006

Nothing's Different But Everything's Changed

The title is from a song on Paul Simon's latest CD. I hear it at least once a day on my Sirius Satellite Radio. I'm not sure I can determine exactly what Paul means by that line, but I know what it reminds me of.

The comment has often been made after accepting Christ: "But, I don't feel any different." I've heard it myself. It's usually delivered with an air of disappointment. Some people seem to be expecting the earth to move or a choir to sing or at least some sort of feeling of invincibility to overtake them. But that's not part of the deal. The fact is, we still have to deal with the problems we make and those we inherit.

One lady asked me, "If I become a Christian, will my life get better?" My answer didn't really satisfy her. I told her that her situations wouldn't change, but the way she looked at them would. Like the rich young ruler, she walked away shaking her head, for she wanted everything to be different. She wanted her boyfriend to really love her. She wanted her illnesses to go away. She wanted a better job and a better this and a better that. But why bother if nothing will be different?

The thing is, when a person trusts Christ to be not only Lord, but also Savior, nothing is different. Ah, but everything's changed. "Keeping up with the Joneses" isn't what drives us anymore. Stockpiling cash and prizes aren't our lives' focus. We now look to please God rather than men. We understand that this earth is not all there is. We realize just how messed up we really are.

Sure, we still mess up. We don't live up to our world view. But our entire priority system has been knocked on its head. We know what we want to be and how we want to act and we're not satisfied with being like the others who couldn't care less about their Creator until they have an emergency.

You see, nothing's different. But everything's changed.

4 comments:

Kim from Hiraeth said...

Amen. We've passed from darkness into light. In the ways that matter most, things are never the same again.

Gigi said...

{sigh} so true.......

Anonymous said...

Well, I feel different. I feel guilty all the time because I don't spend enough time in the word. I feel helpless and scared and moody whenever I haven't meditated in the word. I know for a fact that all I have to do is read the bible in all my spare time and I will definitely look at everything different. However, I don't do this so for me, it is the complete opposite. I feel different but nothing has changed.

Carol said...

So, we aren't listening to CCM on our Siriu? Bummer. Then we could talk about how the Christian stations play secular music.

Seriously, though - everything does change, doesn't it?