[Ladies, Prayer Garden, National Martyrs Memorial, RK, 2007, JAVanDevender]
Ezekiel 11:19-20 "Then I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, "that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
What an incredible miracle is this whole business of conversion... "regeneration" to the more technically precise among us!
No one who has been present at the birth of a child, under normal circumstances, can deny the sheer wonder of it, especially if it is your own baby. The seemingly ever renewing earth presents similar miracles to our senses in magnificent array. A dead pond, full of scum and mud, the product of rain falling upon recently scorched earth after a forest fire, may in time, begin to tremble and stir as life is born into it. The self-correcting actions of micro-organisms begin to filter the water and make it inhabitable and attractive for larger creatures. From death, life will rise triumphant and a cycle will begin anew. It is the ordinary miracles which are most astonishing when we pause and consider.
It is easy to pass over the miracle of conversion also. It is seldom remarked by the world, it usually does not occupy the minds of the news media, it happens and the ripples spread, but other than by those closely affected, it is not is deemed very important.
But, if we pause and consider, .... if we let our minds and hearts dwell on the true nature of the event, what a different story is told. In conversion / regeneration, God creates a whole new person out of the dead, dried up husk that previously went through the emotions of existence. As the surface of a muddy pond begins to stir with implanted life, so the inner and outer workings of an individual begin to vibrate and resonate with hidden stirrings. Where life was once preoccupied with idols, as existed in Korea for thousands of years, suddenly a new idea and new emotion begins to push those previous assumptions right out the window. There is a real change ... a new "heart" begins to beat. It is not a repair job that is being done... the old heart was dead... it is a transplant that is accomplished.
And what results accrue? In the very place where the idols of the world around once reigned supreme, now ladies on their lunch break gather to eat, share their lives and pray. Astonishing! What a transformation! What a supernatural event!
It is a modern fiction which treats this radical change in psychology, sociology and emotional nature as a mere foible, an amusing anecdote to be smilingly noticed as the world's notice moves on to "bigger" things. This work of God, made possible only through great price, should be of supreme importance to all. To those who have not experienced it, it should be the object of great longing and desire. To those who know it and the One Who caused it, it is a pearl of great price, the value of which is such that a man would sell all he possesses to own it. It should be a portion of our daily prayers of thanksgiving. It is the glory of God to save men... not by a bare forgiveness of their sins... but by transforming them into new beings, fit for eternity with Him. We should daily remark on this, notice it, express our gratitude for it, and live in its aura all day. How can we grumble and complain in the face of this great gift we have received? How different would our lives become if we simply gave this miracle the recognition it deserves and appropriated the attendant promise it conveys: "I am your God... and you, as evidenced by this gift I have given you, belong to Me!"
Ah, the magnificence of it all... and of the joy that attends it.
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