City of God Church: Lafayette, IN

A New Heart, Not New Behavior

"Man's proper happiness consists in the enjoyment of God; but it is not possible that man should enjoy God with only those things in him which he receives by the first birth.  So that there is his necessity of man's being born again."

- Jonathan Edwards

Edwards noticed a truth that evades many in the Christian church today.  Drawing closer to God, and living a life pleasing to him is not primarily done by changing our behavior.  I've lost count of how many times I've desired to know God more and immediately I began making a list of the behavior changes I wanted to see in my life.

Drawing close to God is not about a change in lifestyle.  It's about getting a new heart.  Left on our own we won't desire God, and so we must trust in him to give us the desire.  When we see our desire for him as a work of grace we will understand that our lives change naturally out of our changed hearts.  They are the fruit of an individual striving for God.

Believing this truth gives God the glory for the changes in our life, and it keeps us from a legalism that sees better behavior as the way to God's approval.  Pray for a new heart not for new actions. Seek more of God, and trust on him to work the change in your life.

For one example of this need in scripture meditate on John 3.