Thoughts on 9/11, #5, Change that lasts:

Ten years ago in a well-planned series of terrorist attacks three-thousand people died.  Many others were wounded, widowed, or orphaned.  Still more gave their lives or had their lives drastically changed as a result of what took place as a result of those attacks.  The terrorism iss indefensible, and the carnage rightly moved Al Qaeda, and its leader Osama bin Laden, to the top of the "most-wanted list."

Still, in spite of all of that horror, as many of us look back from our vantage point a decade away, we see some good things that happened as a result of 9/11.  I've reviewed some of those positive responses over the past week and a half.  Unfortunately, the willingness to turn to God for answers, recognition of the reality and presence of evil, and the unity that that came after 9/11 were mostly gone by 10/11.  In my four decades of ministry I've observed the same phenomena many times.  Life will smack us hard--perhaps knock us to our knees--as a result we will make promises, vow to change, and even begin to walk a new path.  Generally, though, such "conversions" are temporary.  The speed with which we abandon these new ways is almost as great as the rapidity with which adopted the news way.

Peter makes a couple of very unflattering comparisons when talking about those who soon repent of their repentance:  "It has happened to them according to the true proverb, "A DOG RETURNS TO ITS OWN VOMIT," and, "A sow, after washing, returns to wallowing in the mire."  (2 Peter 2:22)  A dog does doggish things because it is a dog, and hog does hoggish things because it is a hog.  No amount of merely external activity, no matter how well-intentioned can change that.  On the other hand 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
The difference has to do with whether anything has taken place at a heart-level, "For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death." (2 Corinthians 7:10)  

If the circumstances of life drive you to change that change will likely be short-lived, but if you flee to Christ. . . .

It's STTA.