Change

"And He said: 'Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.'"
-Matthew 18:3
      As I mentioned earlier I have a job working at a technology store. I find it strange when people pay for computers in cash, but it does happen from time to time. Whenever someone pays in cash, the amount is almost never the exact amount of the computer. Therefore the person expects to receive change. After all, they did pay for more than the computer is worth, so I have to give them the leftover balance. So why am I talking about change? Today I want to discuss change that comes from knowing Jesus.
      Suppose there are two men who are exactly the same. One man lives a normal life, just as many do in this world. Now say that the other man gets into a car crash and loses a leg. His life is now changed, even though otherwise he is exactly the same as the first man. However, because of this one life incident, he can no longer have a normal life as the first man did. He can't jump, run, or play soccer, and he has to live in a wheel chair. This man now has to live a changed life.
      When we meet Jesus, our life isn't supposed to be the same. Imagine that if at the technology store I refused to give a customer their change. That would be ridiculous and I would probably get fired. Or imagine that if the man that lost his leg expects to live a life that is completely the same as everyone else. That would be a ridiculous proposition, because this man can no longer do tasks that normal people can do. Just the same, God doesn't expect us to be the same as other people, our encounter with Jesus is supposed to change us. Jesus paid for us with His life, and He expects that we reflect His life.
       Why can people "meet" Jesus and still not be changed? This is a great question which I heard the answer to in a message on the radio. The answer is in the form of a story. Jesus is preoccupied in a city, with people surrounding Him and asking Him for His help. He then stops, and asks "who touched my garments"? The disciples are confused, because there are many people who are touching Jesus in the crowd they are in. A woman reveals that she touched Jesus because she wanted to be healed.
      There were many people who encountered and touched Jesus that day, but not all of them were changed. In fact, only one of them was changed; the woman. She had a hemorrhage for twelve years, and had went to every doctor to try to resolve her problem. None of the doctors were able to fix her, and she ran out of options for healing. When she no longer could expect help from people, she looked to Jesus for her help. As she touched Jesus cloak, she was healed from her hemorrhage and could life a changed life.
      So what was different about the woman compared to the crowd? The woman touched the edge of Jesus' cloak. What does that mean? This means that she must have been low to the ground, implying that she was humble before Jesus. As I said before, she had ran out of options for healing. The only person she could put her hope in was Jesus. The crowd was not as desperate and as humble as this woman was. She understood that she could be changed by Jesus and Jesus alone. She no longer had any faith in anything else. We too must humble ourselves and place our complete faith in Jesus. We can't expect to be changed if we are still relying on ourselves or on any human means. We have to empty ourselves of our pride, get on our knees, and then meet with Jesus- only then can we be changed.
-Smart