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