Time to Change

"There's going to be some changes made."  That's not a good statement for a boss to start with during a Monday morning conversation with you.  It may be a warning that your work has been lacking, or perhaps your tardiness is occurring too often. The mention of the word "change" can be a threat to a workplace which has become routine and easy.  

When kids hear their parents use the opening sentence above, it usually means some new rules or new chores are going to be added. Helping with the dishes or the cleaning of a room can become traumatic to any kid.  It might eat into the time he spends on the phone, or socializing on facebook.  

Whoever we are, we get comfortable in routines and schedules, and usually do not meet changes with smiles on our faces. We even long for the "good ole' days," before everything in our world changed. No doubt about it, we live in a changing world. Today, we would do well to spend some time asking ourselves how we have reacted and handled the changes in our lives. 

One thing we should understand in the beginning of such questioning is that we serve a God who never changes. He is faithful and dependable, just like he has always been and always will be.  The psalmist talked about God's unfailing love. The Hebrew writer mentions God as always being the same.  That assures every Christian person living in a changing world, that God is forever unchanging and reliable. 

Now as we contemplate how we adapt and handle changes, we are brought face to face with the truth that God wants us to change. Because of our sin, and our need to be forgiven, God calls us to be a changed people. There may be some changes we need to make in our speech, or behavior, in our commitments and our priorities.  God wants to help us in those changes by establishing in us a new and a changed heart.  

Closer examination of scripture will show us our change takes place through a personal encounter with Jesus. In his earthly ministry is evidenced the individuals and multitudes whose lives were changed through encountering him.  A good story for you to read is in Acts 9, concerning the meeting of Jesus and the changes that were brought about in the life of Paul.  Think for a moment about your personal experiences of change when you met Jesus. 

We recently wrote about the parable Jesus taught about the seed (the Word of God) and the soil (the hearts of men.)  Remember, it is only the heart which has been changed by God's love and eagerly receives the word, that will bring forth the desired harvest. 

The greatest change of all is described in 2 Corinthians 5:17,  "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come."  When that change happens in the hearts and lives of the people of this world, you will see changes that do not bring fear, but those changes that are necessary in bringing us to experience God and his love. 

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