How God Brings Change
Charles Colson told the following story in an address at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi:
I love the illustration about a man named Jack Eckerd. A few years ago I was on the Bill Buckley television program, talking about restitution (one of my favorite subjects) and criminal justice. Bill Buckley agreed with me. A few days later I got a call from Jack Eckerd, a businessman from Florida, the founder of the Eckerd Drug chain, the second largest drug chain in America at the time. He saw me on television and asked me to come to Florida. He agreed Florida had a criminal justice crisis, would I come down and do something about it? And we did. We got the attorney general of the state, the president of the senate; we got on Jack Eckerd’s Lear jet; we went around the State of Florida advocating criminal justice reforms, and everywhere we would go Jack Eckerd would introduce me to the crowds and say, “This is Chuck Colson, my friend; I met him on Bill Buckley’s television program. He’s born again, I’m not. I wish I were.” And then he’s sit down. We’d get on the airplane and I’d tell him about Jesus. We’d get off at the next stop, he’d repeat it, we’d do the same thing again, and I’d talk to him about Jesus. When we left I gave him some of R. C. Sproul’s books and I gave him C. S. Lewis’s Mere Christianity, which had such an impact on me. I send him my books. About a year went by and I kept pestering Jack Eckerd. And eventually one day he read some things including the story of Watergate and the Resurrection out of my book, Loving God, and decided that Jesus was, in fact, resurrected from the dead. He called me up to tell me he believed that, and I asked him some other things. When he got through telling me what he believed, I said, “You’re born again!” He said, “No, I’m not, I haven’t felt anything.” I said, “Yes, you are! Pray with me right now.” After we prayed he said, “I am? Marvelous.” The first thing he did was to walk into one of his drugstores and walked down through the book shelves and he saw Playboy and Penthouse. And he’d seen it there many times before, but it never bothered him before. Now he saw them with new eyes. He’d become a Christian.
He went back to his office. He called in his president. He said, “Take Playboy and Penthouse out of my stores.” The president said, “You can’t mean that, Mr. Eckerd. We make three million dollars a year on those magazines.” He said, “Take ’em out of my stores.” And in 1700 stores across America, by one man’s decision, those magazines and smut were removed from the shelves because a man had given his life to Christ. I called Jack Eckerd up. I said, “I want to use that story. Did you do that because of your commitment to Christ?” He said, “Why else would I give away three million dollars? The Lord wouldn’t let me off the hook.”
Isn’t that marvelous? God would’t let me off the hook. I don’t know any theologian who’s better defined the Lordship of Christ than that. And what happened after that is a wonderful sequel and a wonderful demonstration of what happens in our culture today.
We are caught up with this idea that we’ve got to have big political institutions and big structures and big movements and big organizations in order to change things in our society. And that’s an illusion and a fraud. Jack Eckerd wrote a letter to all the other drugstore operators, all the other chains, and he said, “I’ve taken it out of my store. Why don’t you take it out of yours?” Not a one answered him. Of course not—he’d put them under conviction. So he wrote them some more letters. But then Eckerd’s drugs began to get floods of people coming in to buy things at Eckerd’s because they’d taken Playboy and Penthouse out. And so People’s removed the magazines from their shelves and then Dart Drug removed them from their shelves and then Revco removed them from their shelves. And of the period of twelve months while the pornography commission in Washington was debating over what to do about pornography, and while they’re trying to come up with some recommendations for the president about what to do which will result in laws which if Congress ever passes them will be sued by the ACLU and will be tied up in the courts for 10 years—meanwhile, across America, one by one, stores are removing them. And the 7-11 chairman, who sits on Jack Eckerd’s board, finally gave in two weeks ago, and 5000 7-11 stores removed it. And in a period of twelve months, 11,000 retail outlets in America removed Playboy and Penthouse, not because somebody passed a law, but because God wouldn’t let one of his men off the hook. That’s what brings change.
Moody’s Conversion
In May 1855, an eighteen-year-old boy went to the deacons of a church in Boston. He had been raised in a Unitarian church, in almost total ignorance of the gospel, but when he had moved to Boston to make his fortune, he began to attend a Bible-preaching church. Then, in April 1855, his Sunday school teacher had come into the store where he was working and simply and persuasively shared the gospel and urged the young man to trust in the Lord Jesus. He had, and now he was applying to join the church. One fact quickly became obvious. This young man was almost totally ignorant of biblical truth. One of the deacons asked him, “Son, what has Christ done for us all—for you—which entitles Him to our love?” His response was, “I don’t know. I think Christ has done a great deal for us, but I don’t think of anything in particular as I know of.”
Hardly an impressive start. Years later his Sunday school teacher said of him: “I can truly say that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when he came into my Sunday school class. I think the committee of the church seldom met an applicant for membership who seemed more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of gospel truth, still less to fill any space of public or extended usefulness.” Nothing happened very quickly to change their minds. The deacons decided to put him on a year-long instruction program to teach him basic Christian truths. Perhaps they wanted to work on some of his other rough spots as well. Not only was he ignorant of spiritual truths, he was only barely literate, and his spoken grammar was atrocious. The year-long probation did not help very much. At his second interview, there was only a minimal improvement in the quality of his answers, but since it was obvious that he was a sincere and committed (if ignorant) Christian, they accepted him as a church member.
Over the next years, I am sure that many people looked at that young man and, convinced that God would never use a person like that, they wrote off Dwight L. Moody. But God did not. By God’s infinite grace and persevering love, D. L. Moody was transformed into one of the most effective servants of God in church history, a man whose impact is still with us. –Gary Inrig
Penney’s Conversion
J. C. Penney was a man of advanced years before he committed his life fully to Jesus Christ. He had been a good man, honest, but primarily interested in becoming a success and making money. “When I worked for six dollars a week at Joslin’s Dry Goods Store back in Denver,” he confessed as he looked back on his life, “it was my ambition, in the sense of wealth in money, to be worth one hundred thousand dollars. When I reached that goal I felt a certain temporary satisfaction, but it soon wore off and my sights were set on becoming worth a million dollars.”
Mr. and Mrs. Penney worked hard to expand the business, but one day Mrs. Penney caught cold and pneumonia developed, which claimed her life. It was then that J. C. Penney realized having money was a poor substitute for the real purposes in living. “When she died,” he said, “my world crashed about me. To build a business, to make a success in the eyes of men, to accumulate money—what was the purpose of life? What had money meant for my wife? I felt mocked by life, even by God Himself.” After several more fiery trials, J. C. Penney was financially ruined and, naturally, in deep distress. That is when God could deal with his self-righteous nature and his love for money. After his spiritual conversion, he could testify of God’s working.
“I had to pass through fiery ordeals before reaching glimmerings of conviction that it is not enough for men to be upright and moral. When I was brought to humility and the knowledge of dependence on God, sincerely and earnestly seeking God’s aid, it was forthcoming, and a light illumined my being. I cannot otherwise describe it than to say that it changed me as a man.”
The Miracle of Change
When we tell ourselves “I can never change,” or “That will never happen,” we presume too much and believe too little. In Jesus Christ God renders all of our final conclusions premature and all of our talk of determinism as simply bad faith. In Christ, God opens closed doors, brings resurrection, reveals possibilities, reclaims the lost, liberates the cursed and possessed, and changes the unchangeable. –Don Shelby
Wesley and the Robber
As John Wesley rode across Hounslow Heath late one night, singing a favorite hymn, he was startled by a fierce voice shouting, “Halt,” while a firm hand seized the horse’s bridle. Then the man demanded, “Your money or your life.”
Wesley obediently emptied his pockets of the few coins they contained and invited the robber to examine his saddlebags which were filled with books. Disappointed at the result, the robber was turning away when evangelist cried, “Stop! I have something more to give you.”
The robber, wondering at this strange call, turned back. Then Wesley, bending down toward him, said in solemn tones, “My friend, you may live to regret this sort of a life in which you are engaged. If you ever do, I beseech you to remember this, ‘The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.’” The robber hurried silently away, and the man of God rode along, praying in his heart that the word spoken might be fixed in the robber’s conscience.
Years later, at the close of a Sunday evening service with the people streaming from the large building, many lingered around the doors to see the aged preacher, John Wesley.
A stranger stepped forward and earnestly begged to speak with Mr. Wesley. What a surprise to find that this was the robber of Hounslow Heath, now a well-to-do tradesman in the city, but better still, a child of God! The words spoken that night long ago had been used of God in his conversion.
Raising the hand of John Wesley to his lips, he affectionately kissed it and said in tones of deep emotion, “To you, dear sir, I owe it all.”
Wesley replied softly, “Nay, nay, my friend, not to me, but to the precious blood of Christ which cleanseth us from all sin.”
Caterpillar Transformation
Two caterpillars were crawling across the grass when a butterfly flew over them. They looked up, and one nudged the other and said, “You couldn’t get me up in one of those things for a million dollars.”
Who Was That?
At a college reunion, thirty years after graduation, one man said to another, “See that fellow over there? Well—he’s gotten so bald and so fat he didn’t even recognize me!”
True Conversion
Paul’s testimony is repeated over and over again as persons respond in faith to God’s gift of Christ, as they are given His Spirit and become new creations. I heard of such a miracle recently. The American Red Cross was gathering supplies, medicine, clothing, food and the like for the suffering people of Baifra. Inside one of the boxes that showed up at the collecting depot one day was a letter. It said, “We have recently been converted and because of our conversion we want to try to help. We won’t ever need these again. Can you use them for something?” Inside the box were several Ku Klux Klan sheets. The sheets were cut down to strips and eventually used to bandage the wounds of black persons in Africa.
It could hardly be more dramatic—from symbols of hatred to bandages of love because of the new creation. Nothing else matters, says Paul. –Maxine Dunnam
Just the Site!
London businessman Lindsay Clegg told the story of a warehouse property he was selling. The building had been empty for months and needed repairs. Vandals had damaged the doors, smashed the windows, and strewn trash all over the place. As he showed a prospective buyer the property, he took pains to say that he would replace the broken windows, bring in a crew to correct any structural damage, and clean out the garbage. The buyer said, “Forget about the repairs. When I buy this place, I’m going to build something completely different. I don’t want the building; I want the site.”
That’s God’s message to us! Compared with the renovation God has in mind, our efforts to improve our own lives are as trivial as sweeping a warehouse slated for the wrecking ball. When we become God’s, the old life is over. He makes all things new. All He wants is the site and the permission to build. There are still some trying to “reform,” but God offers “redemption.” All we have to do is give Him the “property” and He will do the necessary “building.”
Sad but True
In a famous experiment with nursery school children, psychologist F. T. Merei organized relatively passive children into play groups and let them play for several days with the same toys and games. Each group developed its own behavior patterns as well as its own traditions of who played with which toys. Once these patterns were set, Merei added an older child to each group, introducing the newcomer as the leader. For this role, he chose children who were eighteen months older than the others and who had shown signs of dominance in other situation at the nursery school. All of these new leaders tried to take charge, but most failed. Merei’s explanation: “The group absorbed the leader, forcing its traditions on him.” The one leader who succeeded did so only after several group members spent several days smoothing the way.
Corporations are not nursery schools, of course, and a chief executive’s position carries considerably more weight than the nominal power Merei conferred simply by announcing to the group that the new member would be its leader. But the enormous pull exerted by a group makes it hard for new leaders to effect any change at all, much less act as quickly as corporate saviors are expected to.
Behavior Change
A friend of mine tells the story of having counseled a man who was falling out of love with his wife. My friend advised the man to think of all the ways he could make life happier for his wife and then do them. A few days later my friend received a phone call in which the husband related the following:
“Every day I leave for work, put in a hard day, come home dirty and sweaty, stumble in the back door, go to the refrigerator, get something to drink, and then go into the rec room and watch television until supper time. After talking to you, I decided I would do better than that in the future. So yesterday, before I left work, I showered and shaved and put on a clean shirt. On the way home I stopped at the florist and bought a bouquet of roses. Instead of going in the back door as I usually do, I went to the front door and rang the doorbell. My wife opened the door, took one look at me, and started to cry. When I asked her what was wrong, she said, “It’s been a horrible day. First Billy broke his leg and had have it put in a cast. I no sooner returned home from the hospital when your mother called and told me that she is coming to stay for three weeks. I tried to do the wash and the washing machine broke and there is water all over the basement. And now you have to come home drunk!” –Tony Campolo
What a Difference a Change Makes
Once upon a time, there was a prince who fell in love with a fair maiden. But his enemy captured the fair maiden and held her captive in a tower. Now the prince had a plan to rescue her, so he recruited the help of two small animals to send a message to the maiden. First there was Claude Caterpillar. Claude was a nice guy, and he didn’t mind helping fair maidens in distress. But Claude was kind of a crusty old character. You might wonder, Did he get up on the wrong side of the bed? Maybe he has a migraine headache or something. Anyway, the prince gave him the message, and he started inching along toward the tower. Being a fat little caterpillar, he had to work hard to get there, even sweat a bit. He thought to himself, “Wouldn’t you know it, the sun would have to be shining today!” Just then the weather began to change. Clouds moved in and little drops started coming down all around him. He grumbled, “Rain, of all things. And I just had this suit cleaned.” But Claude wasn’t a quitter. He made it to the tower and searched for a way up. A vine growing along one side was the obvious answer. Inch by inch up the vine Claude went, only to discover that it was a climbing rose bush. All the way up you could hear, “Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!” When he finally reached the window he heaved himself only the ledge and said to the fair maiden, “Hey, lady! Come here! Are you the maiden in distress?” She nodded as she looked down at this sweaty, muddy little caterpillar. Claude gave her the once-over and said, “You’re kidding. You mean I came all the way up here for the likes of you. I don’t know what the prince see in you. He sent me with a message, and you wouldn’t believe how hard it was for me to get here. His message was: ‘Get Ready.’ He’s coming to get you. Five o’clock sharp! Understand? All right! Good-bye!” And off went Claude.
Next the prince sent Barney Butterfly. Barney was not so sure of himself with the rain and wind, but he said he would try. His soft wings lifted him gracefully into the air. He struggled with all his might against the wind as it blew him back and forth. Just as he was about to reach the window, a bird swooped down and nearly ate him alive. After a frantic chase, Barney flew inside the window beyond the bird’s snapping beak. He flew about the room until the maiden noticed him. She reached out her hand, and he landed softly on her finger. She brought him close as he relayed the Prince’s message:
“Lovely and favored maiden, the prince loves you dearly. At the sound of his voice, jump from the window and into his arms.” The maiden replied, “Thank you, beautiful butterfly. You are very sweet. But tell me, why did the caterpillar bring the good news in such a nasty manner? He seemed so rude and rough.”
The butterfly replied, “Oh, you mean Claude? Well, that’s just Claude. I used to be that way, too, until I was transformed.”
Purpose Emerging
It is in changing that things find purpose. –Heraclitus