CHALLENGES OF CHANGE

Jesus Christ, the same yesterday
and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8

Change is something I have resisted most of my life. I've never liked having to adjust to it, no matter where or what the change may have been...or continues to be, for that fact. Every dictionary I checked for a definition of change basically said the same thing that change is making or becoming different. The definition is pretty simple, but the process certainly isn't.

In a previous presidential election, a major candidate ran on the promise of change

. Everyone knows what change is, but there was no way of knowing at the time what that man meant by change in government. We learned after eight long years, his view of change certainly wasn't our view. If we thought, and often do, that change is good, we have found looking at the devastation and ruin in our country left by him, wasn't what we had in mind.

One of the first major changes that came into my life was leaving my hometown to attend college in the state of Kansas. Little did I realize, it was the beginning of change(s) for the rest of my life. Growing up in my hometown was comfortable. Most folks knew each other. I had teachers in every level of school who had taught both of my parents when they were in school. Ours was a coal mining town. Many guys out of high school went to work in the mines. Some went to college or found jobs at home. I lived in two houses at different times, both comfortable with neighbors I dearly loved. There was a security in those 18 years as far as location and friends.

To this point, I've lived in five states, lived in 11 residences. This has meant church changes as well as selecting new doctors, dentists, grocery stores, and all the rest. For the last 20 years, I've made a habit of learning people's first names only. If I latch onto someone's last name, that's okay. In it all, I'm still not a good adjuster. New folks can't look at me and see what churns inside of me that has to do with change.

Can change be a positive in our lives? I had lunch this week with my NEW Sunday school teacher. She asked me where all we have lived and I told her some of it. Her comment was, “What an interesting life you have lived.” I think I nodded pleasantly. She asked me if I had taught the Bible in all of those places and come to think of it, I pretty much had. On that count, perhaps change has been good for me without thinking back on it all.

Scripture often speaks of change. In the Old Testament, there is a lot of mention of changes of clothes. Priests also had to keep an eye on disease of the skin on people such as leprosy. They would monitor changes in the lesions hoping for positive healing. There were changes of names such as with Daniel and his three friends when taken into captivity. They were basically given pagan names in place of their Hebrew ones. That couldn't have been a welcome change for those young men but there was nothing they could do about it.

Any number of times, we can read in Scripture of changes in the hearts and minds of people. These changes came often after going through very difficult circumstances. If the people had been disobedient to God's law, there were consequences for that, often bringing drastic changes in their lives.

Change, however, isn't always a negative thing. I have known friends with severe physical conditions that have changed for the good, with positive healing taking place. Most of us have at one time or another changed jobs. There were adjustments to be made, but any inconveniences seemed worth it knowing we had a better job with higher pay. Those of us who are parents have watched physical changes in our children as they have grown from babyhood through all the phases of physical change. Those changes, as we look back, came all too quickly as we look now at our children with their own families.

The greatest change any of us can experience is that time when we accept Jesus as our personal Savior. I was ten years old and went through this wonderful change in my life while listening to an evangelist in our small church. I didn't know what a lot of the BIG sins of life were like at that age, but knew that sin was sin, even if it was something as big as taking a cookie out of the cookie jar too close to supper. Sin is sin whether that sinner without Christ is ten years old or fifty. But....

Therefore if anyone is in Christ,
he is a new creature; the old
things are passed away; behold,
new things have come.
II Corinthians 6:17

Changes are going to come....things will become different in any number of ways. They won't all be just positive or just negative. However, we will never be alone no matter the differences. God in His sovereignty has His hand on your life and mine. That is the best security we can have no matter the changes that come our way.

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble
Therefore we will not fear,
though the earth should change
and though the mountains slip
into the heart of the sea.
Psalm 46:1,2

Dear Father, thank You for seeing me through every change in my life. Your guiding hand not only leads in my life but is my comfort and security. Thank You for Jesus Who has made life worth living. In His precious name....Amen