Changed 

The best part about being a pastor is seeing lives changed.

The worst about being a pastor is when lives are not changed. It happens too often. I am burdened these days about the church members whose lives are unchanged. Barna says most Christians seem to live their lives indistinguishable from the world… a tragedy in his view.

Perhaps you are a pastor who struggles, as I do, with why more people are not changed. I have written this book for you.

Perhaps you are struggling yourself with change. You want to be changed into the image of Christ, but you don’t know how. You want to lay hold of the John 10:10, abundant Christian life, but have not figured out how to live it. I have written this book for you.

I spoke at a meeting with David Platt recently. He arrived a little late, explaining and apologizing as he came. “I had a flat, and as I was fixing it, I got hit by a Mack Truck.” A goofy grin communicated he was kidding. Everyone knew that if had been hit by a Mack Truck, he would look different. You don’t get hit by a Mack Truck and it not change you.

You don’t meet God and it not change you.

I spoke at a banquet recently with Georgia Bulldog coach, Mark Richt. As a young assistant coach at Florida State, Mark heard Bobby Bowden share the gospel. One of the players on their team had died and Bobby Bowden wanted to make sure that every player on his team had heard the gospel.

Bobby said, “See that empty seat? That is where he sat. Now he is not here. He is in eternity. I don’t know where he is, whether he is in heaven…”

Bobby used a word we don’t hear much, except at a curse word: Hell.

Even in our pulpits we don’t hear too much about Hell. I appreciate what Brandon Park says about this, “Pulpits today say too little of Heaven and Hell. Preachers are too cautious to offend. We can’t get people out of Hell and into Heaven by ignoring the subject.”1

Bobby was concerned that none of his players went to Hell without hearing the gospel. He couldn’t do anything about whether they responded. He could do something about whether or not they heard.

After the talk, Mark approached Bobby and said he wanted to be forgiven of his sins. Bobby Bowden led Mark Richt to faith in Jesus Christ. At that banquet, I heard Mark say these words, “God transformed my heart.” That is how it always starts. That is what this book is about: changed hearts and transformed lives.

Mark went on to explain that although God changed his heart in an instant, he had a lifetime of thoughts in his mind that needed to be transformed. His mind was like a computer. The hard disc of his mind was filled with images and thoughts that being saved did not erase. Mark will spend the rest of his life allowing God to transform his mind and behavior.

It only took an instant for Mark to be justified. It takes a lifetime to change a life.

God changed my heart on January 7, 1973. In an instant I was justified before God. He is still transforming my mind and my life.

When God saves us, He transforms our hearts. The prophet Ezekiel said, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26 (NKJV) What does it mean that God will take the heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh?

It means God will change us. You cannot have a relationship with God and it not change you.

This book is about how God changes lives. The biblical word for change is transformed. The classic passage is Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (NKJV)

The Greek word translated transformed in Romans 12:2 is metamorphóō. We get our word metamorphosis from this word. There is an interesting contrast between change that starts on the outside—conformed, and change that starts on the inside—transformed.

J.B. Phillips’ paraphrase of this verse accurately describes change that starts on the outside, “Don’t let the world around you squeeze you into its mold.” The world squeezes us from the outside into its mold. God changes us from the inside out.

Johnny Hunt, Changed, n.d.