It's Not In Me to Change

The Word is first...

Jeremiah 13:23 (NIV)

²³ Can the Ethiopian^a change his skin

or the leopard its spots?

Neither can you do good

who are accustomed to doing evil.

^a Hebrew Cushite (probably a person from the upper Nile region)

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

I've heard the question dozens of times "can a leopard change it's spots?" Its always been a nod to the inevitability of certain behaviors and a capitulation to complacency. Its a way of saying that "you're just the way you are and you're never going to change." Yet I know from personal experience that this saying is both true and not true.

It is true to the extent that of ourselves, we are unable to effect lasting change at our core. Oh we can certainly modify our behavior such that an outward change is apparent but sooner or later, the curtain will come down and our true selves will be revealed.

The saying is not true to the extent that it precludes the power of God to effect real and lasting change in the very center of our being. This change effects not only our inner self but our outer self at all. This change is 'regeneration.'

The leopard cannot change its' spots (its nature) but by the power of God it can be reborn without spots; it can be reborn with a new nature. More specifically, we can be reborn into the family of God and our sin nature left behind.

God's word explains this in...

Titus 3:5-6 (NIV)

⁵ he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, ⁶ whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,

The Holy Bible : New International Version. electronic ed. Grand Rapids : Zondervan, 1996, c1984

Through rebirth and renewal, by the death and resurrection of Christ, we can be reborn with a new nature, without spots. It's not in me to change, it's God in me that makes the change.

Peace,
Carl