Sayings

The saying “Can a leopard change his spots?” Can be found in Jeremiah 13:23 “Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” 

The people of Jeremiah’s time had hardened their hearts and refused to take on board his call to repentance. They had walked so long in wickedness that they had become used to, accustomed to, doing evil. They had made a habit a pattern of behaviour acquired through repetition. And breaking such deeply entrenched habits, so that true, lasting change happens, can be very difficult. God was pointing out here that such folk cannot change their sinful natures.

A wise old tutor was once taking a stroll through a forest with a curious youth. The tutor suddenly stopped and pointed to four plants close by. The first was a tiny sprout, just coming out of the earth. The second had rooted itself quite firmly in the fertile soil. The third was a small shrub. The fourth had grown into a well-developed tree.

The teacher said to his young student, "Pull up this first plant." The youth pulled it up easily with his fingers.

"Now pull up the second." The boy obeyed, and with slight effort the plant came up, root and all.

"And now the third." The boy pulled with one hand, then the other, but it would not come. Then he took both hands, and the plant yielded to all his strength.

"And now," said the teacher, "try the fourth." The youth grasped the trunk with all his might but he couldn’t move it a millimetre.

The original “Serenity Prayer,” by Reinhold Niebuhr, is about change: “God, give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, Courage to change the things which should be changed, and the Wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” But no matter how much we try to change ourselves, only God can truly change our hearts. He is the God of transforming power. He makes “all things new” and we can become “new creatures” in Jesus Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). The change comes when we surrender to His Lordship and Mastery, confessing and turning from our sins, and let Him have complete control over our lives. A leopard may not be able to change their spots, but we can be changed from glory into glory till in heav'n we take our place, till we cast our crowns before Thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.

“LORD, please be Lord over us this day, in Jesus’ name.”