Jesus Changes People

Using the right tool for a job helps accomplish the task set before you.  I learned the hard way that using the wrong tool is not only ineffective and inefficient, but it can damage the tool so it doesn't work properly to do what it was designed to do.  I made the mistake of using a Crescent wrench (spanner) as a hammer to tap on a bolt, and the result of this was misshaped steel prevented the jaw from opening fully.  Knowing the purpose of a spanner helps to use it properly, but knowing what a tool is made to do doesn't prevent laziness inside of me that decided to use a spanner rather than fetch a hammer.

Therein lies the limitation of having knowledge and being educated:  it doesn't fundamentally change you.  Educating minds has value, but all the knowledge in the world cannot change your heart.  This is where education as an end falls woefully short of the way people desire it to work.  They prescribe education of the mind believing it will change people for the better.  People who can read warnings with an understanding language will not always make a conscious choice in light of the facts they know.  A driver in NSW does not need an advertisement on TV or a warning written on a bottle containing alcohol that it is illegal and dangerous to drink and drive.  People still do it, despite their education and training, because they choose to.

When the boys were little, we had a hollow red and blue plastic ball filled with golden shapes.  It was a fun activity for the little fellas when I dumped out the shapes and showed them how to fit them through the matching hole.  It was frustrating when a similarly shaped piece would not fit into the hole (I'm looking at you, pentagon and hexagon):  try as they might, they could not force it inside the ball.  Many people in the world, and I include Christians in the number, are frustrated when we prescribe education for what only spiritual transformation can accomplish.  It makes no sense to aim for rehabilitation when a person was never righteous to begin with.  Education and training cannot change a heart or soul for good:  only Jesus does this.

Saul of Tarsus is a great example of this.  He was a highly educated man in the Law of Moses, a theologian and Pharisee who was filled with pride and self-righteousness.  His violent hatred of Jesus Christ prompted him to do unspeakable evils to disciples of Jesus, went to great lengths to ferret them out and arrest them, and even approved of Stephen's murder--knowing full well the Law said, "Thou shalt not murder."  But after Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus, he was born again and was transformed from the inside out.  He went from being Saul of Tarsus to Paul the apostle, sent by God to the Gentiles to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ without price.  He worked with his hands to support the ministry and patiently endured great suffering as he encouraged fellow Christians to persevere with joy.  Saul did not need a course in anger management:  who he needed was Jesus, and to put his faith in Him as LORD.

It is no surprise the world places great hope in education changing the minds of people, but to imagine it can change hearts or save souls is a fantasy.  For those who are born again through faith in Jesus Christ, the power that raised Jesus from the dead resides in us in the person of the Holy Spirit.  Hitting people over the head with the Bible or facts about the dangers of drink-driving never changed a mind or heart, but Jesus is able to change people for the better continually.  From the inside God transformed Saul to Paul and kept changing him, even as God continues to conform us into the image of His Son, Jesus.  How I love Jesus, and how I need Him to be changed.