I have an old drinking buddy who became a Christian a year or so ago, and I have to admit he really turned his life around. In some ways, I envy him, I suppose, but I honestly can't see it ever happening to me. I know I'm too weak to become a real Christian. — J.H.

The most important thing I can tell you is that what happened to your friend can also happen to you. And I hope it will, because right now you're on the wrong road in life, and eventually you will pay a terrible price.

If you asked your friend what happened to him, I'm sure he'd tell you that he didn't change his life—Christ did! Your friend was just as weak as you are, but when he gave his life to Christ, God came to live within him and changed his life. You can't change your life by yourself; you don't have the spiritual strength. But Christ will give us the strength we need.

Does this mean that if you gave your life to Christ your experience would be identical to that of your friend? No, not necessarily; we're all different, and we grow in our relationship to God at different speeds. When the Apostle Paul first yielded his life to Christ, he instantly changed. Peter, on the other hand, only slowly grew in his faith.

If you will open your life to Jesus Christ, He will begin to change you. And He will continue to change you, even in small ways you may not realize at the time. The Bible's promise is true: "If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). Don't let another day go by without Christ.