He saved us… by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. Titus 3:5
Regeneration happens in your soul. It is how Christ changes who you are. Regeneration is not a change in your life. Normally, when people talk about their life, they are referring to things that happen to them or to the things that they do.
You are born. You go to school, head off to college, and then you get a job. You get married and you have children. You lose your job and get another one. You grow old, you get sick, and you die. That’s your life—the things you do or the things that happen to you. If your life is what is happening to you, then what is your soul? Your soul is the you to whom these things happen.
When Christians say, “Jesus will change your life,” people often assume that this means: “Jesus will change the things that happen to me. So if he is going to change the things that happen to me, I should meet the right girl, get a new job, or recover from this illness.”
But regeneration is not a change in what’s happening to you; it’s a change in the you to whom these things are happening. It is a change in your soul. We’re all concerned about what is happening in our lives. God is concerned, above all, about the you to whom these things are happening.
Christians live with the same dangers and temptations, and the same pressures and struggles as those who are not Christians. Christ’s redeeming work does not lie in changing the things that are happening to you. It lies in changing the you to whom these things happen.
React to the statement, “Jesus will change your life.”