3.162 Turned into Another Man

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

If the Lord knocked on your front door and said, 'Hey, come with me,' would you pause and say, 'But am I going to change?' Or would you say, 'Let's go?' My friends, our reading this week is one that focuses specifically on the journey of Saul as the first king here of the Israelites, or at least anointed to be so, and his adventures with Samuel the prophet. We are reading 1 Samuel 8-10, 13, and 15-16 as we go through here. There's a moment inside of this, as we talked about the qualities of Saul yesterday and the good man that he is.

And then we see this moment come when Samuel lets him know and the Lord fulfills what Samuel says: this change that comes over Saul. And it's one that's quite a drastic change, but it's one that's worth catching because, again, Saul's story is such a roller coaster of positives and negatives. What could it mean for us as we take a look at it here? 1 Samuel 10, verse 6 and verse 9, but I'm going to focus on verse 6 as our verse for today.

It says this: 'And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man.' And then we find out in verse 9 that the Lord gave him another heart. We have this incredible change here that comes through Saul's interactions with the Lord. But it's this phrase here about turning into another man that's got me thinking about our relationship with the Lord.

I think it's amazing to hear stories of missionaries as they come home, and they, a lot of times, they'll share these stories of people that they met on their missions and had incredible turnarounds in their lives. I know I had several experiences on my mission being able to see people embrace Jesus Christ in their lives and then, on the backside of that, become another person, right? Become new people in Christ.

One of them, I think I've shared, but it's been quite some time since I talked about it, was an experience that I had early on in my mission with a father and his wife and then their sons and even a niece that they had in the family as well. And to see his experience go from an individual who would be on the streets regularly drinking, heavily drinking and intoxicated, and going from that type of living and that type of lifestyle to being called as a leader in the Church. And then ultimately, for me, being able to experience and witness the sealing of that family in the Salt Lake Temple, as one of the sons had finished his mission and mom and dad flew over from Mongolia and were able to have that sealing.

They asked me to be one of the witnesses in their sealing. My friends, if we are willing, the Lord offers us not just change but full transformation, an entirely new opportunity for us to embrace, to grow. If we will accept that, we too can change into other people.

Now, for those of you that are saying, 'But I don't want to change. I want to stay who I am.' Don't worry. The Lord's changes are going to be for your better in every way, shape and form.

The challenges He gives you are going to help you grow. The opportunities and blessings that are going to come are going to be more abundant than you could ever imagine. So, my friends, inside of Saul's experience here, let's grab one of these high points and remember that his willingness was to turn completely into another man, to get another heart, as the Lord said, to be turned to Him.

I hope that you and I can seek the changes that the Lord would have us make in our lives to continue on our path to be better and more like our Savior Jesus Christ. That is all for today, my friends. You and I have come here for such a time as this.

Step forward in faith and let's be Savory Salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope