The Biggest Change Ever

        I recall from my childhood that I seemed to have had a quest for religious satisfaction.  That might be a funny way to put it, but the Scriptures say that no man seeks God so there was something going on in my life that needed some answers.  There were those who just brushed me off with a "I don't have time for that right now" type of attitude and those who tried to offer some type of answer that really wasn't an answer at all.  Then, in April of 1972, I was saved.  Was my life then a sparkling example of discipleship?  It wasn't any where near to what it could have been.  I have always felt as did Paul in Romans 7 where he declared that the things he wanted to do, he didn't do and the things he didn't want to do, that is what he did.  What was different?  It was the spiritual act of rebirth, of being born from above.  It was "the change."  Second Corinthians 3:18 says, " But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."   
      The word "changed" is used in two other sections in the scriptures.  It was the word used in both Matthew and Mark to describe what happened on the Mount of transfiguration and it is also the word that is used in Romans 12:2 where we are said to be "transformed."  The gospel accounts are translated at "Transfiguration."  It is the word from which we get "metamorphosis."  We use it a lot to explain what happens when a worm is in a cocoon.  The once ugly worm all of a sudden comes out as a beautiful butterfly.  A change, or a metamorphosis has taken place.  For the believer, there is that time in their life when a "change" took place.  It is that split moment when, like lightning, the change takes place and our names are inscribed in the Lamb's Book of Life."  It takes longer for us to say the prayer of salvation than it does for the actual act to take place.  Oh, yes, my quest for religious satisfaction was quenched but more was accomplished in that split moment than we can possibly fathom in this life.  Songwriters pen the words, "salvation reached me"  Likes sparks from smitten steel."  As Paul said to the Romans, we were "transformed."  Your life has been changed in that moment of salvation and then you got what I call the RIBS.  You were regenerated by the Holy Spirit, Indwelt by the Holy Spirit, Baptized in the Body of Christ by the Holy Spirit and Sealed by the Holy Spirit.  It is OK to shout "Hallelujah" at this point.  Praise God for His changing of our lives in that moment of salvation.  A metamorphosis has taken place.