Can People Change?

Certainly not on their own power. I believe people can and often do change for the worst, but this is not the intent of this often discussed question. Can they change for the better? I knew a man once connected to our family who said that "People dont change, they intensify." I can see you nodding at that from here. People pay a lot of money and take a great deal of time to have my husband help them change. His answer after a long career in psychiatry is, "perhaps, but very slowly"

My husband, very early in the relationship, quit a heavy smoking habit - cigarettes and cigars - overnight, and it was a permanent change. That was 15 years ago. The only way positive change is effected is in a love relationship. It wasnt love at the time, it was infatuation, the hope of a future love. It was going to help insure that this relationship had lasting power to meet his needs, so he quit smoking. At that time, he was also generous. He considered others first and was able to be gregarious. This is no longer true of his character. I can remember those times fondly now without incurring pain and grief at the loss of this personality and this relationship.

How about real change in the heart? Bad health habits are just the flies around the garbage pail. Can deep change occur in the presence of human love? Real character change, integrity. That's a deep operation. I believe it can only happen at the regeneration of the spirit beginning at the point of salvation. Ideally, God uses the context of human relationships to change us. Humility is a necessary ingredient.