One Coat Is Not Enough!

It is written in Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Jesus began to preach about God`s Kingdom and He promised eternal life to those who obey Him. In Mark 16:15,16 He said, “whoever believes and is baptized will be saved.” Jesus told Thomas “I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). But for a man to come to Jesus and obey Him, man’s heart must be changed. God knows that the human heart is full of evil desires. God wants to change the hearts of sinners. He decided in His great wisdom to do this gradually.

God changes men’s hearts in the following way. First, the sinners heart is changed to a friendly heart. Then, the friendly heart is made into a merciful heart. The merciful heart then must become a loving heart. The people who have these loving hearts, become like Jesus (Rom 8:29). Jesus had a heart full of very great love which is able to lead people to self-sacrifice, when needed.

In order to make the first change from a sinner`s heart to a friendly heart, we need to read what John the Baptist preached to the people in Luke 3:3. John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John asked sinners to change their hearts by producing good fruit. Additionally, in Luke 3:11 John said: “...if you have 2 coats, share with the man who has none.” If a man is able to give a coat to a poor person he is changing his sinful heart to a friendly heart. But to just give one coat is not enough for us to receive eternal life.

Jesus wanted people to change their friendly hearts to merciful hearts. A teacher of the Law once asked Jesus what he needed to do to receive eternal life. In His answer, Jesus pointed out that he must love his neighbor as himself. Jesus then told the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). This parable shows us what it means to have a new heart; a merciful heart. Another time, a rich man asked Jesus “What must I do to get eternal life?” (Mark 10:17). Jesus answered him “Go, sell everything you have and give it to the poor” (Mark 10:21). In order to give all his things to the poor, this rich man needed to change his friendly heart to a merciful heart. How do we get this merciful heart? In Matthew 7:12 Jesus preached "Do Unto others, what you want done unto you."

But to receive eternal life, it is not enough to have merciful heart. The last change that needs to take place is to get a loving heart. Jesus gave a new command to his followers in John 13:34 saying, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” Their heart must become like Jesus’; willing to give self-sacrifice if necessary. To receive eternal life we also must have a heart like Jesus; a loving heart. It is from this loving heart that we become obedient to the commands of Jesus (John 14:15). We must be real followers of Jesus, able to carry the needs of our friends, to carry their burdens (Gal. 6:2), and to display all the fruits of the Holy Spirit; like love, joy, peace...etc. (Gal. 5:22).

In conclusion, we can understand that to give one coat is not enough. We must learn to develop a friendly heart, a merciful heart, and a loving heart in order to be like Jesus. If we have this loving heart, we will obey the words of Jesus and learn to be like Him. The Spirit of God will live in us (1 John 4:11-12) and God will raise our bodies to be in heaven with Him (Rom. 8:11). This is our hope and our joy; to be part of the body of Christ. May God give all Christians a loving heart.

Gencho Cokanov
Sofia, Bulgaria