Change in Direction

          It is a wonderful time when you understand something new for the first time. We sometimes use an expression that goes, “The light bulb came on.” It is that expression on a person's face when they finally understand what someone is trying to tell them. I recently saw a joke that had been written by one of my grand children, but just couldn't understand what it meant. It was a simple music staff with one note on the staff indicating that it was the note, “A.” In front of the note was the musical notation that make is “natural.” Above the little drawing were the two words, “I am.” I looked at for about a month and didn't understand what it meant and then I read all of the things on the little drawing and suddenly, the “light came on.” He was saying, “I am a natural.” It was a response to an earlier comment and his reply was the little drawing with the words, “I am” before it. There are some things in life that we don't understand. Well, to be honest, there are a lot of things that we don't understand. Some of them, however, become clear at some point in time. First Thessalonians 1:9 says, “For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God;”

         Nicodemus had a time in his life when he didn't understand what the Lord Jesus Christ was saying to him when Jesus told him that he needed to be born again. A lot of people don't understand this simple statement. Books have been written about being born again one of which has those words as its title. Preachers have preached on the subject, songs have been written about John chapter three and prayers have been prayed about people being born again. For many, they just don't get it. They don't get it that is, until it happens. I mentioned this verse in a recent devotion and the thought kept reminding me of this passage as an explanation of what takes place when a person become “born again.” We think of the salvation of an individual as being a “conversion.” Things change. Directions change. One's outlook on life changes, and so what takes place? Paul describes in this passage what had taken place in the lives of the people in the city of Thessalonica. They were much like we are today in that they were in the habit of worshiping idols. There was a specific point in the lives of the people in Paul's day in which they changed direction. They turned to God from idols. There was that point in time when they made a turn in the direction of their lives. The verse then goes on to say that from that point on, they chose to serve the One and Only True God. Yes, I guess you could say that they were converted. Their path was changed from going in one direction of serving idols to a new direction of serving God. Some feel that they can just add God to their present belief system and everything will be okay. That is not the case. This particular chapter goes on to say a great deal about the life of the believer. At one point on the early morning of April 29^th, 1972, the light came on for me. I had been involved in church for the previous thirteen years and probably some time before that. I talked about God. I sang in a church choir. I sang solos in church meetings and I knew all of the words that everyone used in “church.” I then changed the direction from serving “self” to serving God. The Thessalonians chose to serve God. Whom do you serve? Praise God today for salvation.