Two Transformations

At the end of World War II, Louis Zamperini finally came home. An Olympic runner for the United States in 1936, he was a bombardier during the war. After his plane crashed in the Pacific, he survived 46 days on a life raft only to become a Japanese prisoner-of-war.

Zamperini suffered brutal treatment at the hands of his captors, but he survived. Following his return, he married and had two children. But the memories of his captivity haunted him, and he turned to alcohol to numb the pain. His home life became desperate, and Zamperini’s wife Cynthia finally begged him to attend a Billy Graham crusade in Los Angeles in 1949. There, facing a crisis that could have cost him his marriage and children, Zamperini accepted Graham’s invitation to trust in Jesus. After that, Zamperini’s life dramatically changed.

His story of triumphing over tragedy became history, the subject of several motion pictures and the bestselling book Unbroken. Less noted from some accounts is the change in Zamperini’s life after he accepted Christ: The nightmares stopped, the drinking ended, and Zamperini was able to forgive the Japanese who tortured him.

What happened to Louis Zamperini after his conversion is a miraculous transformation that can happen to each believer after receiving Jesus as Savior. When we surrender to God’s will, we can exchange our old behaviors for “kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self- control.” Don’t you believe this world could use a lot more kindness and goodness, not to mention gentleness?

If the only thing salvation gave us was the opportunity to have eternal life in heaven, that would be far more than enough, and far more than we would deserve. But eternity is not the only part of the package: By having our very natures renewed, receiving the positive attributes we may not have always shown before, we can start living in our own “heaven on earth” starting today!

Apply It:

As you thank God for His goodness and for the gifts of the Spirit that come with salvation, remember to exercise those gifts, especially when things get tough!

Dig Deeper:

Mark 9:2–29; Jude 24; 2 Corinthians 10:5

Key Bible Texts

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, (Galatians 5:22 KJV)