Making Change

January 28, 2023

Believe it or not, I am a Southerner. Some would dispute it, since I grew up in New York State. Once a Yankee, always a Yankee. Psychologists claim that the years that are most formative for

anyone are ages zero to five.

My wife and I moved to her hometown of Byromville, Georgia on August 22, 1977. The way I calculate it, I had spent more time living in the South than up North by approximately February 26, 2002. I am a Southerner.

Now, I had to learn sayings and idioms and manners to replace what I’d learned in my early years. I had to leave behind any loyalty to the New York Giants or Philadelphia Phillies. I had to understand that anyone living in the state of Georgia had a duty to support the University of Georgia football program. Any yearning I had for white potatoes needed to come second to a love for sweet potatoes.

On the other hand, to become a Christian does not require moving to a different state or eating a different variety of foods. There is no waiting period, having to outnumber sinful years with ‘clean’ years. Accepting Christ as your savior, taking his death on the cross as sufficient payment for your personal sins, enables you to become a Christian instantly.

Sure, there is much to learn. The Holy Spirit will make you over, a little at a time, to become more like Jesus. However, unlike the belief that a Yankee is always a Yankee, the day you were saved is the day you stepped from death into life. You are promised a different final destiny and a better life along the way.

I John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us, that we should be called the sons of God.”