Embracing change

I left home early in July to vote. Exiting my house into torrential rains and gusts of wind, I was relieved to have my big, tall husband there, manning the umbrella. We scoffed at the state of things with neighbours as we entered the polling place. Not five minutes later, upon leaving, the sun was brightly beaming and fluffy clouds perfected the sky. Now a near perfect-looking day, the glistening, black pavement was the only sign of the threatening weather from moments before. 

The Bible compares the Holy Spirit to a wind and, like that summer morning, the Spirit can bring change in an instant. The apostle Paul is a prime example. From murderer of Christians, to the greatest apostle in a thunderous moment of change there on Straight Street, he was made new (Acts 9). If mere men were to plan out the advent of the greatest religion, would we leave it in the hands of our most dangerous, vengeful enemy? God’s thoughts and ways are above ours. 

Society’s view of change versus God’s

What do you believe about change? Is being made into new creations a mere idea, symbolic, a euphemism, something reserved for a select group of Christ followers 2,000 years ago? Or do you believe that an individual can literally be changed? 

What society preaches about change in this modern era is confusing. A person’s sex can be changed to match their chosen gender identity, but sexual preference is immutable. The idea that a person can change from lesbian or homosexual is so odious, there’s a push to have ‘conversion therapy’ completely banned in the UK. Change is perfectly acceptable to the world, as long as it happens on society’s terms. However, this being our Father’s world, the terms are ultimately his. 

Christian author and podcaster, Becket Cook, wrote A Change of Affection: A gay man’s incredible story of redemption in 2019 (Thomas Nelson). In it, he chronicles his transformation from an out and proud gay man enjoying the heights of Los Angeles’ name-dropping, fashionable crowd. One day an actor, writer and production designer, God changed him to a gospel preaching, Christian cultural commentator. The title of Cook’s book describes his very literal change of affections, from a childhood growing up in a very large Catholic family, leaning toward same-sex attraction to desiring a life of total submission to the lordship and adoration of Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. He chooses, joyously, to lay down his desires from a fully submitted heart of obedience. Becket has been transformed.

Yet in the world at large, even in politically conservative, Catholic and Christian circles, you’ll hear it expressed as common knowledge, even exasperatedly; humans are born with an innate sexual preference that cannot change!

Personal testimonies of change

When I hear arguments like this, I think of amazing testimonies of men and women of God, people like Rosaria Butterfield, a staunch lesbian feminist and tenured English professor at Syracuse University. She came to Christ, leaving a long-standing, monogamous same-sex relationship, after a grand gesture of hospitality shown by a Christian fellow faculty member. I think of Jackie Hill Perry, well known for the bold, poetically psychological break down of her past worldview as masculine presenting lesbian to prolific Christian spoken word artist, Bible teacher and married mother of four. I think of Christopher Yaun’s heartfelt testimony, coming to Christ as a gay man, experiencing prison and drug addiction, breaking free from these strongholds because of the answered fervent prayers of his devoted mother, going on to teach at Moody Bible Institute for over a decade, now writing, teaching and speaking all over the world. These believers are each “a letter from Christ” (2 Corinthians 3:3), written by the Spirit of God, proclaiming how God changes human hearts to an unbelieving, sometimes even ‘Christian’, world.

It was Cook’s testimony that really resonated with me, when I read his account of the visceral metamorphosis that came over him his first time at an evangelical church service, hearing the gospel, overcome by the abundance of the presence and goodness of God’s grace. He lay in a heap, uncontrollably weeping, undone by the Holy Spirit. Immediately he knew the lifestyle he had been pursuing was sinful and ,although it was his former identity, he felt blessed to lay it down for the surpassing worth of knowing Christ, like the apostle Paul. 

Many Christians share dramatic testimonies of transformation. My husband was a typical Scot, drinking to excess with regrets many mornings. Although a Christian from his youth, in a very palpable experience with God in his 20s, he heard a literal voice say “no more”, leading now to 18 years of sobriety and counting. We have friends who’ve come out of Teen Challenge, a worldwide ministry to the drug addicted; kind, jovial, doting husbands and fathers who pray out loud and raise their hands at church in worship. Looking at photos of them ten, 20, 30 years ago…they’re unrecognisable! These emaciated, sunken eyed, grey skinned shells of men were born again, saved by grace, honest testimonies of resurrection here in the land of the living.

Walking every day in the Spirit’s power 

Spotlighting these testimonies of Christians who have acquiesced to scripture, nailing the passions and desires of their sinful nature to Christ’s cross and crucifying them there (Galatians 5:24), warrants this reminder: it’s done not by their own might, nor strength, but by the power of God’s Spirit (see Zechariah 4:6). Not only does the Bible give clear evidence of instantaneous Spirit-led transformation, it speaks of the shared necessity of walking in the Spirit through a gradual process of sanctification. The act of walking is synonymous with a step-by-step exercise in surrender to God’s principles, by his grace, over time. Like me, I’m sure there are aspects of your life that God has changed in an instant. But other parts, I’m still walking out – and now writing this, I’m convicted of a need for more fear and trembling. After all, when the inspirational seed of conviction to turn from sin is planted, it comes from the Lord. Whether swift as with a breeze or through a daily, committed journey of carrying our cross with Jesus, believers have an inheritance of life-altering, effective change by the power of the Holy Spirit.