This was the question that came up today during lunch.

My coworker conjectured that when I was an atheist, I wasn’t a cruel, evil person who cursed wildly and committed crimes, but rather I had the same or very similar personality as I do today.

The conclusion he wanted to make was that faith in God doesn’t really change you, doesn’t really make a difference in how you live.

I begged to differ, for I know how much God has changed me during the past 7 years in which I have believed in Him. However, there was also truth in what my friend was saying, for God does not change you by replacing your personality with a ‘happy go-lucky Ned Flanders Christian’ one.

Instead, God magnifies the good aspects of your personality while helping you overcome the evil tendencies or faults of your personality. For example, my sense of humor was purified of very ugly things I used to find funny and began to delight and take joy in good things.

If you let Him in, God does change you–for the better. We think we know what is best for us, but most of the time we are our own worst enemies, struggling against the God who loves us so much He became a man and suffered heroically for us to realize this love.

Obeying God paradoxically frees you because you are liberated from the slavery of sin, sin which tarnishes a person’s soul and always hurts the person and other people.

Seven years ago, I was in a bad way and had lost all hope for a solution to problems that were destroying me from the inside out, and all I did was give God a chance. I gave him one chance by bluntly saying to Him: “God, you know I don’t believe in you, so if you are real, you better come and help me, otherwise, it’s over for me”.

And God came running, and we haven’t looked back since.