A thought came to me immediately and that is watching the person. If a person changes then they will not do as they did before. If you talk to that person then they will answer questions differently and have a different view of what they used to think.

This is why the Bible speaks strongly of repentance. To repent means to change and not go back to the old ways. Some people are sneaky and lie and some people really do try but they get that whisper in their ear and attack, they just can’t stop listening to the devil.

There is this lady I know. Some years back she attacked me on my Facebook wall with some others. This action hurt me because my aim was only to do good with Facebook and they couldn’t see it. They felt that I was stealing the church from our Pastor and that I should shut down this Facebook profile and go to church humbly and do as I was told was what God wanted me to do. But my heart cried that I was to do this. I was very lost, confused and hurt over all of this.

 

This lady has been in the past heavily reprimanded by our church, and another person and myself have gone to this ladies aid and shown forgiveness to help her. And earlier this year she sent me a friend request and I accepted it, somewhat weary of what would happen, but still I did what I hoped was right. And recently she did it again and make some accusations which are wrong but she is one of those people who gets on a crusade and you cannot get through to her. So I unfriended her again.

The thing here is that this lady has yelled at me and said some shocking accusations to me in the past. She once followed my daughter Grace and I all the way around the church yelling at us, letting us now what she thought of my Facebook work. She obviously has issues that have affected her entire personal life. She apologizes and then after sometime attacks again. Very self-righteously and strong. She makes me feel very sad. I pray for her but she always had a reason in her view to put me straight and she lets me know about it. The point I am making is that sadly she hasn’t changed. She has a deep set problem from her past that keeps coming up and keeps getting her into trouble with people because of the things that she says. So she hasn’t changed even if she means it when she says sorry. Her mouth gets her into so much trouble.

 

If a person apologizes and you see the change of their ways in their actions, conversation, and life then you see a person who is regretting truthfully what they have done and they are really trying to change and be a different person. Over the last 5 years I have happily changed in leaps and bounds and I will continue to do so.

 

It could be like Paul in the Bible who repented of his old ways. But what’s if a Christian saw Paul kick a Christian when he was down, or Paul wrote something and about Jesus, or said something suspicious or wrong. Then we would question whether Paul had really repented with all his heart and soul and changed with all the efforts of his heart and soul. We know that Paul did repent and completely changes with all his heart and soul and to many is the greatest Christian of all. Paul is a wonderful example of totall complete change and a hope for all of us.

 

 

All the best from
James M Sandbrook.
First Published – 28th of September, 2013.