Change of Heart?
According to a CNN.com article, a bank robber nicknamed the “Barbie bandit” plead guilty to theft charges Wednesday in Acworth, Georgia. Johnston was arrested after robbing a bank of $11, 000 in Georgia. Surveillance video shows Johnston and another woman laughing as they stole the money in February. Heather Johnston cried as she apologized for her crimes saying that she wanted to take responsibility for her actions. Apparently she regrets what she did.
“Money isn’t everything,” Johnston said, according to the article. “It’s not what’s important to me anymore. Doing the right thing is.”
Now this is where I start to get cynical. As much as I want to believe that people can change, I find myself doubting that it’s possible. Has the Barbie bandit really changed?
Maybe. Maybe not.
What makes a person “changed”? Is it the way they act? The way they feel? Can a person change in an instant or does it take time? Can a person change themselves or does something else influence that change? Is change possible?
6 Responses to “Change of Heart?”
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I think that it is possible to change and sometimes getting caught doing something bad is what it takes to change. But I believe that change doesn’t occur at the drop of a hat. More than likely it takes time to change…to think about and remember this bad deed over and over again because we are only human and sometimes we make the same mistake a few times until we get tired of the outcomes and consequences and that’s when we choose to change and lead a better spirit filled humble life.
I would learn that I can’t allow those kind of friend treat me horrible and now I wish they change because I finally had enough with them. sometimes is this teaching them to spread allow me be madder at them ? the same way they tried to help me but I allowed them belive at first but they got tired of me and so I wish there were differ level in ways that I ask god for forgivenn.. that all I ask
I AGREE WITH YOU CAROLYN, I BELEIVE THAT THERE IS ALWAYS CHANGE IN OUR LIFES BECAUSE AS WE GROW IN OUR CHRISTAIN LIFE WE GROW IN A SPIRITUAL WAY ALSO AND THERE IS ALWAYS CHANGE IN VARIOUS WAYS RIGHT? AND AS WE GRT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT GODS TEACHNGS WE GROW AND CHANGE ALL THE TIME IN DIFFERENT LEVELS…WAETHER IT BE GOOD OR BAD THAT IS OUR CHOOSE TO MAKE WHICH GOD WILL ALLOW US TO MAKE…
Why do we think that change can not happen in a moment, if it is good change? We all know that our lives can change in an instant if tragedy strikes. But after that initial change there is a time of adjustment in which further changes happen.
It can be quite similar with good changes too. We can have a moment in which a great deal changes for us in our perspective, beliefs, way of life. But after that, there is ongoing transformation needed to establish these changes in our lives, or we change back to the old ways again.
It is how we respond to the working of the Spirit of God in our lives that will make the changes lasting in us or not: Whether we honestly and humbly continue on in the direction that new change is taking us, through transformation, or whether we go back again to the way things were. Change is not a one time thing that happens and then remains without further change. Change is ongoing and continuous, in one direction or another, and the change we need involves allowing the Spirit of God to continually transform us from the inside out.
Change is possible. I have seen it scores of times over the past 25 years. I have never seen it happen at once though. Quickly sometimes (over a few weeks or a few months, and then sustained over time), but never instantaneously.
Those who act like they have changed instantly–especially those who talk about it all the time–fall back to their old ways within a few weeks, months, sometimes even within a matter of days. I have never seen differently, that I can recall.
The quick-change people, sometimes described as having gotten “too good, too fast,” never really changed. Some of them may have “wanted to want to”, and may even have believed they had changed, but they all lacked the honesty and humility required for real (deep and lasting) change.
God will change us–if we want Him to and if we let Him.
[...] ** Change of Heart: Is it possible for someone to really change? http://talk.thelife.com/2007/08/23/change-of-heart/ [...]