CHANGE

To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven – Ecclesiastes 3:1

CHANGE is perhaps the most constant thing in creation! Life is all about Change – it’s about times and seasons (Ecc.3:1). Life is a consistent movement of change, not a monument of sameness. Life is more about the possibilities of the future than the memories of the past. Nothing is permanent! It would be strange to find someone wearing the same cloth for a decade. Everything in this world has an expiration date, and wears away. Even the spiritual requires constant renewal (Rom.8:29-30; 2Cor.3:18, 4:16-18). It is inevitable that along life’s course, you must deal with Change. So, what’s your Attitude to Change? How do you view change? Do you contemplate the prospect of change? Do you see change as a threat or a basis for hope?

God is the Unchanging Changer: “For I am the LORD, I do not change are not consumed, O sons of Jacob” (Mal.3:6). Also, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb.13:8). He came to earth to bring positive change to the Man’s eternal destiny! Everything in creation is subject to change. Human beings, things, and circumstances change; but God remains the same – ever faithful, ever dependable (Psa.105, 106). God uses men to initiate changes. For example, change is one key purpose of the Pentecostal outpouring (Acts 2:37-39). Father-God, who earlier sent His Son, now sent His Spirit to bring His desired change into the system. Paul was an agent of positive change in the midst of Christo-Judaism. God had to move upon Peter supernaturally to cause him to accept a strategic change from the status-quo (Acts 10:10-15).

Believers in Christ Jesus are meant to be Catalysts of Change. One of the most difficult things for people to deal with in life is unexpected change. Having become too attached to the way things are, it is traumatic when such are taken away from them. Many people fail in life, being unwilling to make the required changes. The option to being changed is to be “chained”: “A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself; the simple pass on and are punished” (Pro.27:12). Never be afraid of change. Do not be a victim of change. Playing safe is probably the most unsafe thing in the world. All of Samuel’s warnings for King Saul to change were rebuffed, until he crashed the crown and his posterity’s claim to the throne (1 Sam.15). Those who do not appreciate change often end up in chains. A wise man said, “When you’re through Changing, You’re through!”

A proactive attitude to change sees it as ‘hope for improvement’. The positive person assumes the role of an Initiator and Creator of Change rather than a Victim or Casualty of Change. The philosophy of “whatever is, was made to be” is a failure-philosophy. The victim says: “If God wants it different, it’ll be different.” The Change-agent says: “By the grace of God, I’ll be the difference and I’ll make a difference!” To accept and accommodate what should and can be changed is a defeatist attitude. Many people misunderstand the sovereignty of God. He is not a despot or purposeless dictator, and He didn’t create us as ‘robots’ but with the power of Choice – to effect desired Changes! You are what you are today by the grace of God, and also due to the events that have occurred over time, and your choices in response to them. You can choose how to respond to situations. You can alter your attitudes. You can cultivate new character and personality traits.

Choose Change! Choose to Change. To experience anything new in life, you will have to change what you have been doing or how. Joseph changed his clothing to fit into the Palace (Gen.41:14). God never closes one door without opening another one; but you must be willing to change, in order to walk through that new door (Isa.43:18, 19; 1Cor.16:9). You cannot stand still. You must be willing to go forward and be open to those adjustments that God has for you (Lk.5:4-6).