CHANGE

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to change lately. Pastor Kent Morgan of Courts of Praise Church in Atwood, Kansas once said, “Change is mandatory. Growth is optional.”

I like that quote, even as I struggle to grow thru changes!

What is it about change that grates on us? And what is it about getting older that we lose our sense of adventure and get set in our ways? Even if we liked change before, something about the passing of time makes us less thrilled when things change!

Oh, I know. Sometimes change happens that we don’t want. We lose a loved one. We’re laid off in the midst of a poor economy. Suddenly good health is exchanged for doctor’s visits and a poor prognosis.

Change. It is stressful!

Have you ever taken one of those stress tests? Not the ones where you get on a treadmill and as my Dad says, “They try to run you to death!” but a list of questions about things you might have experienced in the last year? They ALL have to do with change….get married? Get divorced? Change jobs? Move? Have a baby? Get an illness? Get a raise?

All changes—some for good and some for bad, but the more “yes” answers you have, the more the writer’s of the test say you are stressed. Just the change from routine, good or bad, makes us feel stressed.

But if God has our days numbered along with the hairs of our head, why do we feel stressed instead of blessed when change comes?

Obviously, some of those things break our hearts and sadden our lives. And yet we are called to count it all joy when we endure trials of every kind. We are called to always give thanks for this is the will of God. And of course, my life verse, Romans 8:28 says that ALL things work together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose.

He makes everything, every loss, every change, every stress beautiful in His time, but that doesn’t mean it is not hard in the time of change.

I think seeing the Big Picture helps and recently during prayer, God gave me a picture of the Big Picture of my life. I’ve often talked about our lives as a grid system where everything fits into the grid. The grid is our “God life” and so our work, our families, our friends, church life, hobbies, etc. are all boxes in the grid as we live out our faith. Most of us live life with a series of little boxes and the grid is us! We fit “our” job, “our” family, “our” hobbies into “our life” grid and faith becomes just one more little box in life instead of the grid that contains it all.

See the difference?

During prayer, I saw a giant heart representing God’s love and overlaying the heart was a wire grid with little squares and overlaying the squares was all the boxes of my life—family, friends, work, church, glass fusing, writing, etc. Sometimes the boxes intersected or were superimposed on each other. Some boxes were bigger than others. But all represented the life God has given me. And all fit into the grid of God life.

So what does this have to do with change?

If He is the author of life and my life belongs to Him, and if I trust that He loves me and wants the best for me, how can I rail against the changes that life brings? Do I not believe He can bring me through it? Do I think it surprises Him somehow that the country is in such a mess and the economy stinks? Did He look the other way while we made a mess and now is surprised at the outcome? And even if He did, will He not turn it all for good just as He promised?

Someone at church today talked about her belief that what we are seeing is God’s judgment. May be. There is a principle of sowing and reaping. But God has promised to never leave me and to be my Provider, so even if it is true, is He trustworthy through the change?

I think so.

I will admit, I don’t really like change. I live a comfortable life and I like it that way! But I also know that God never promised that things would always be comfortable and unchanging. He did promise that He would care for me and turn all things to good. He did promise me that with all the changes of life, He would not change nor would He leave or forsake me.

I am sure the disciples as they saw Christ honored with waving palm branches and the people’s glad Hosanna’s thought things were changing for the good as Jesus rode a colt into Jerusalem.

The crowd also thought things were changing for the better as they looked for someone, anyone, to rescue them from Roman rule and decided that it was going to be Jesus.

And Jesus, as He sat on a colt, receiving the accolades, knew that change was coming and that the shouts of Hosanna would soon turn to shouts of “Crucify Him!” and yet He never wavered even when everything changed from honored to hatred.

But Jesus saw the Big Picture of His circumstance and knew that it wasn’t about the change in the crowd, but in the unchanging need for a Savior for a lost and dying world. It was about the unchanging Grace and Mercy of God who knew that a Sacrifice must be made once for all and sent His Son to die to pay the penalty that we owed. It was about the unchanging Love of God in the person of Jesus.

Yes, life brings change and I pray I will grow through them even as I lean on the Everlasting Arms of God who is my rock, my fortress, my deliverer. But I don’t have to worry about change because my life grid is God Himself and His love never changes. “Great is Thy Faithfulness, O God!”

As we move through Holy Week, may you be blessed by His everlasting, unchanging Love and sacrifice!