All is Vanity

God has the power to change a life.  Romans 6 really lays out some of the dynamics of the
resurrected life that we as believers can enjoy. Picking up at verse 8, we read:
8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,
9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him.
10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.
11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Even though someone may look as if he or she has passed the point of no return, we know that Christ died for the entire world - for everyone.  And, even though in our worldly understanding, we may think someone cannot change, we know that in God, all things are possible, and that the presence of Christ flooding a heart, making the old new and making the dead alive, can result in the dramatic change of a life.  That can give us fresh motivation and a reliance on the power of God to heal and transform.

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In Colossians 1, we read about some spiritual truths that apply to each of us as believers in Christ:

13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

14 in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

There was another death of a musical celebrity recently, and I think her passing really speaks a powerful truth about the presence of God and the difference that He can make in a person's life.

Her name is Denise Matthews. She was the lead singer of Vanity 6, a 1980s female singing group. One of her hit songs was "Nasty Girl."   According to a piece on the Religion News Service website, she had a career-changing, born-again experience that included renouncing her earlier ways, which included an addiction to crack cocaine. She said she turned away from drugs in the 1990s and converted to Christianity.

The article says that she told Rolling Stone: “I sing to Jesus for Jesus now,” adding, “This gives me pure joy … worship! I apologize profusely to those I have offended deeply a million times over.”

She died last Monday at age 57. She had been diagnosed with “sclerosis encapsulating peritonitis,” a life-threatening abdominal condition.

Denise had recently attempted to raise money for her medical expenses through gofundme.com.
In an update posted four months ago, she wrote: “I went into the emergency twice this week, boy it is not fun suffering in this body of weak flesh… but Jesus is straightening out all my crooked places in my heart as i go thru this time of pain….i won’t complain!”

There were tweets of condolences that were sent out from two professing Christians from the music industry. Drummer Sheila E. tweeted about her sadness that her “friend in Christ” had died.  MC Hammer included these words in a tweet:  "She absolutely loved GOD unto salvation. Rest in his Glory".

We pray for people to come to know the Lord, and we should.  And, we can pray with a sense of anticipation - fervently - because we know that God can change the human heart.  No matter how far away someone might wander or outright run away from the Lord, that person is not beyond the reach of a Savior.

I hope we guard against the tendency to typecast people based on their behavior.  I am thankful that God did not give up on me, nor does He give up on anyone.  Even the most hardened sinner can be redeemed.  And, that really is one of the beautiful characteristics of our loving Lord - He sees us, He knows us, and...He pursues us!!

So, whenever someone is trapped in selfishness and rebellion against God, locked inside his or her own vanities (pun intended) - God has made a way for that person to be free.  A person is freed as he or she accepts the Word of God and the wooing of the Holy Spirit.  As the heart is tenderized to the truth, we can see God do powerful things.  He knows our hearts, He's greater than our hearts, and He desires for us to experience His love.