Change
Some people
hate change. I use to. I was comfortable were I was; I
didn’t want to be uprooted. My husband would get promoted or
make a change in his career and that meant the kids and I
would have to change too. We would have to move, find new
friends a new church and a new school. I hated being plucked
from one comfortable spot and dropped in a totally new
territory. I tried to hide that fact from the kids and act
excited in order to keep my own sense of distress and
insecurity from them.
Some women get stuck with the same hair style and wear it
for years unable, or unwilling to make a change. They give
in to habit, or think it is easier, or are afraid of what
they may look like if they cut it or let it grow; for
whatever reason they prefer not to make a change.
There are men who are miserable in their careers but stay
with the same old job for years because they are afraid of
stepping out and finding a pathway of change. They would
rather be miserable in familiarity than happy in change.
There are corporations, businesses, churches, towns and
cities even, who need to make changes, but become
comfortable and die in the hole they have dug for themselves
rather than to step out and embrace change.
Change can be scary for anyone. Grown men, woman and
children hesitate to embrace it at times. Change causes you
to come face to face with the unknown and the unknown has
defeated many as they choose to avoid or ignore it.
There are those who stay in a dead church where the
attendance is dying, the sermons are dying, the ministry is
dying and even their own souls seems to be dying, simply
because they have always gone to that church and don’t want
to change. Sin even gets comfortable for many. They like it,
it feels familiar. God’s ways are unknown to them and they
would rather die in sin than be born a new into God’s ways.
Change I have found is inevitable. I had someone tell me
once, “Nothing ever stays the same.” I argued with them and
said, “Yes, some things stay the same.” I was young and
naive at the time. Life had not yet finished teaching me,
nor has it yet. Then I begin to see, that yes, everything
changes…well maybe not everything.
There is one thing that stays the same. In this ever
changing world, it is good to know that we can count on the
stability of at least one thing. In (Malachi 3: 6 NIV), it
says, “I the Lord do not change.” People change,
things change…but God, our Lord and Savior and His word stay
the same. Isn’t that comforting to know? No matter when we
go to Him, he is always the same. No matter what problem we
take to him he is always the same. He always has time for
us. He always greets us with the same love. He is the same
yesterday, today and forever. What a reassuring, comforting
thing to know that He never changes; He is the only
stability in some peoples lives. In (James 1: 17 NIV) It
says very poetically, “Every good and perfect gift is
from above, coming down from heavenly lights, who does not
change like shifting shadows.” He is a steady light of
stability in an ever changing world of shadowy darkness. His
Biblical word is always a steadfast assurance when we live
in a world where people’s word often means nothing.
God ask us to change. We have to change our old ways in
order to be born again. He asks us to turn our backs on the
things of this world and to follow him. He asks those in
days of old to change their ways of worshiping idols and to
serve the one true God. It is essential for us to change, if
we are to find the one thing that will never change, and
that is Christ love and redemption.
In (Matthew 18: 3) NIV) Jesus tells us, “I tell you the
truth, unless you change and become like little children,
you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” We are to
humble ourselves before God, we are to have the faith of a
child; we are to change our old sinful ways and be
transformed. God wants us to change.
There is one final change for we who are Christians. In the
final day when Christ returns for His own our decayed bodies
will be changed in an instant. The dead in Christ shall rise
and we will take on the robe of immortality, death will be
swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15: 51-57 NIV)
I am learning that change can be good as I enter my golden
years. Change can keep you growing and learning, keeping
stagnation from making you dull and uninteresting. It can
cause you to soar and be more than you ever dreamed. It can
also make you wise if you seek an ever growing knowledge of
God.
* Prayer: Thank you, God, for your ever loving stability in
an ever changing world. I also thank you, for your word that
is never changing, but always a well of deep truths. I thank
you for the change, accepting your son Jesus Christ, brought
into my life. Help me to seek change and growth, and most of
all to seek the changes you can make in my life.
Betty King,