Romans 12:1-2 (NIV) 1 Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of
God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to
God--this is your spiritual act of worship. 2 Do not
conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's
will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Change is happening all around, and
change is happening in me. Change is inevitable and change is constant. We
resist it, fear it, try to ignore it, and let it annoy us, but it does not go
away. In many ways change is very good. I like using a flush toilet and a hot
shower as much as the next person. But change is not necessarily always good. We
fear it will ruin things in our lives… our happiness, and sometimes it does.
Not all change is welcome. The pace of change can be hard on us. The explosion
of knowledge and technology in the last 100 years has brought many exciting
things into everyday life, but they often come with a cost (impacting the environment,
relationships, lifestyles, culture, etc. in negative ways). The upcoming
graduating high school class of 2017 will, for the most part, have been born
just before the new millennium began (around 1999). They do not have personal
knowledge of a pre-smartphone, pre-bluetooth, pre-iPad, pre-YouTube,
pre-Facebook, pre-Wi-Fi, pre-thumb drive, pre-Amazon.com, pre-flat screen HDMI
TV, pre-Google, pre-911, pre-success-of-the-Boston-Red-Sox, pre-texting,
pre-reality TV, pre-Starbucks, pre-Twitter, pre-Netflix, pre-Taylor
Swift/Kardashian/The Avengers, pre-easy-access-to-pornography, pre-same-sex-marriage,
pre-selfie, pre-_____ world. I’m sure you can fill in the blank with many other
trends and changes. Some of these may have affected you little, while others
have deeply impacted how you live and think.
That’s what change does: It impacts
how you live and think. It moves you either to come out of your pre-conceptions
and “change with the times” or to reaffirm your convictions while other
consider you outdated or a relic from days gone by. One thing is sure: when it
comes to change you cannot remain neutral. This is also true spiritually. God
has given us His Word, among other reasons, to change us… in the deepest places
of our lives. The Holy Spirit is at work in us when we come to the Scriptures
to convict and convince us into thinking and action that is continually being
shaped into the ways of God and the mind of Christ. While this often brings us
through hard change, God’s work in us – including in the realm of change – is
always good.
Having become 60 years old in 2016,
I find myself wanting and needing to sort through the unchanging purposes,
plans, precepts, and principles that come from God and the cultural and
societal changes that confront (and sometimes assault) me daily. How can I be
relevant without compromise? How do I communicate the absolute, unchanging
truth of the things of God to younger generations (in my family, church, and
community) without losing sight of love and grace or without alienating my
audience? It’s a good thing that the Spirit of God has great power to do in
people’s hearts and minds what I cannot do. Now, I am not naïve, nor do I want
to be self-centered. The position I am in, and the questions I am asking, and
the changes I am facing are not unique in any way. Every generation of the
followers of Christ has had to live and minister through times of change. Perhaps
we could say that that is one thing that hasn’t
changed. And the Word of God still stands. The Gospel of Jesus Christ still
saves. The Church still has the Holy Spirit to fill her and help her. People
still want (and need) to know God. God’s ways still work. And the future –
tomorrow or ten-thousand years from now – is still secure in the hands of our
Lord. What an exciting time it is to be a Christian and to be a part of God’s
kingdom work!
At our recent sunrise service I encouraged people to
add up their lives by the number of days they have lived. If God’s mercies are
“new every morning” (Lamentations 3), then every day of my life has brought a
change – for the good – in God’s hands-on loving care of me. Every reason for a
new mercy has a changing dimension to it. So, in my case, I have had (as of this
writing) 22,132 days of new mercies in my life. And tomorrow will add more. God
is so amazingly good.
Whatever the change is… however it impacts our
lives… let’s give it to God and watch what He is doing with praise and even
thanksgiving. When we know He is in charge, we can boldly say, “Bring it on!”
Amen!
2 Corinthians
5:17 (NIV) Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the
old has gone, the new has come!
Isaiah 43:19 (NIV) See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs
up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the
wasteland.
Isaiah 46:9-10 (NIV) 9 Remember the former things, those of long
ago; I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. 10
I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times,
what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I
please.
Lamentations 3:22-23 (NIV) 22 Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions
never fail. 23 They are new every morning; great is
your faithfulness.
Revelation 1:8
(NIV) "I am the Alpha and the
Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and
who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
PRAYER: Father, with you there is no change. There is
nothing new in all your creation. Jesus, you are Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I place my experience of change in this world into your strong
hand and I make it subject to your will and purpose for me. May I always trust
you. Then I will know that no change can bring me harm. I walk confidently with
you. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”
Jesus
Christ is Lord!
Scott
No comments:
Post a Comment