How many political campaigns are touting the change theme, hoping you and I will respond because change really is needed? It was Mark Twain who said, “Politicians and diapers must be changed often, and for the same reason.”
Restaurants try to pick up and go again under the assurance that management has changed.
Movie reviews exclaim, “This movie changed my life!”
We see a movie, read a book, hear a song, tour a city, and welcome a child or a grandchild. These are all “life-changing” experiences; all of which are subject to further change–change that we may or may not appreciate.
A visit to the hospital or drug rehab ward and we discover that there are some not-so-pleasurable changes that come into our lives.
Marie had a car wreck and her body became disfigured. This changed her life. Marie took the prescribed opiate for pain. This changed her life. Her boyfriend and father of her children left. She became addicted and changed even more. She lost her children and even more lives changed. Marie’s little sister changed her profession and became a nurse so that she could help change lives who had become destroyed by drugs, alcohol and tragedy.
One day you attend church and somehow you no longer know most of the people there. Songs– how they are played and sung lost the feel of yesteryear. This was not a change you saw coming.
Anyone who has had the life-changing experience of marriage has learned that a spouse can change daily.
That person I married is not going to remain static and predictable to serve my fantasies of yesterday’s glory and tomorrow’s eternal bliss any more than my fickle feelings so prone to fluctuation. Neither am I going to remain the same. It is here that I make the call as to whether I will change my wedding vow “until death do us part”, to “until my feelings and or circumstances change”.
1989 “You changed my life completely. I love you forever and will you marry me?”
1999 “How could one person have changed so much? What a disappointment. I no longer choose to love you. Leaving you is the best change I could ask for.”
One day I glanced into the mirror and realized I was starring with amazement into a face that had changed so much in such a brief time. The vanity of external beauty and appearance as a ticket to importance fades away like morning fog.
The color of America is changing fast. Whites will no longer be the dominant ethnicity within 30 years. It is simply a matter of change. White couples have changed about having children or at least changed about how many. (down to 1.5)
I no longer feel like a boy, though biologically I am one. I want to change and be a girl.
All within the same year–I moved–I graduated–I lost relatives to death–I bought a pet–I married.
What happens when technology and culture change faster than I can cope or accept how it wants to change my life? What happens is—
I become insecure. I feel out of control. Then I begin to fight against that which attempts to break in and steal my security. Change is more tolerable in youth, but all ages can feel overwhelmed and anxious.
Have you ever been abandoned? Have you been let down by another human being? Are you hurt and in despair?
Perhaps what you and I are really looking for is someone who won’t change while this world spins around chasing itself, never asking our opinion or if we mind. Good news is here.
“Jesus Christ never changes! He is the same yesterday, today and forever.” Hebrews 13:8
And because Jesus never changes we can trust Him to keep His word to us. Jesus was rejected but He will never reject those who receive, confess and love Him—those who know His voice.
“That winter, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Temple Festival. One day he was walking in that part of the temple known as Solomon’s Porch, and the people gathered all around him. They said, “How long are you going to keep us guessing?
If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!” Jesus answered:
I have told you, and you refused to believe me. The things I do by my Father’s authority show who I am. But since you are not my sheep, you don’t believe me. My sheep know my voice, and I know them. They follow me, and I give them eternal life, so that they will never be lost. No one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father gave them to me, and he is greater than all others. No one can snatch them from his hands, and I am one with the Father.” John 10:22-30
The next time you and I are tempted to fall for this world’s line of “this will change your life”,
we remember just how vain and self-serving this world is. “New and Improved!” isn’t always better. Music and the movies are powerless to change our lives in any lasting way. No human can change our lives, merely influence.
The more of Christ character we appropriate and produce, the less we need the cheap-chump-change this world offers. It is shallow and talks big with little to show for its boisterous assertions and clever advertising.
The more of Christ character we appropriate and produce, the brighter our light shines for a lost world.
The more of Christ character we appropriate and produce, the more secure we are in our changing world.
The change we are about as children of God in Christ is from the inside out!
“Anyone who belongs to Christ is changed into a new person. The past is forgotten and everything is new.” II Cor. 5:17
The changeless Christ insists on changing us into His likeness! From the moment we receive Him, He begins this daily changing in our lives. Welcome this change and pray for it! This change is security!
“So work with fear and trembling to discover what it really means to be saved.
God is working in you to make you willing and able to obey him.” Philippians 2:13
TO FEND OFF THE NEGATIVE EFFECTS OF UNWELCOMED CHANGE–PLANT SOME ROOTS!
“You have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord. Now keep on following Him. Plant your roots in Christ and let Him be the foundation for your life. Be strong in your faith, just as you were taught. And be grateful.” Colossians 2:6-7
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