Change is not easy. By nature, most people find themselves resistant to change. In exchange for something fresh, we embrace the familiar. We compromise the future of potential because we will not sacrifice the security of status quo.
This innate feature is genetically imprinted within our souls. We are built with natures that are resistant to change. Paul highlights that in Rom 7 when he expresses his own inability to resist his sinful nature. It’s not just our best efforts that are thwarted by this change-resistance. Someone once said that some people are prone to change once they see the light, but others will change only when they feel the heat. It seems that whatever the circumstance, human beings are quite naturally resistant to change.
Why? Because change is hard! There is nothing easy about change. On the individual level, change requires chiseling, chipping, refining, and reshaping elements about us that quite honestly we’ve become attached to. Sometimes it means gentle adjustments – and sometimes an absolute overhaul is required!
I had a pair of blue boating shorts since I was in high school. Actually, they started out blue, but over time they turned a sort of purplish-red with some spots of bleach. They were my favorite pair of shorts. The waistband pretty much disintegrated back during the Senior Bush’s administration. I loved them. Tabitha did not. The damage was irreparable. The only thing to do was to chunk them and start over.
Sometimes, the shape of our lives is like that. God pretty much drew a line in the sand in Jer 18:3-6 concerning his prerogative about putting His hands in our business. He said that He (as the potter) can shape us (as the clay) in whatever way “seems best to him”!
If navigating change is tenuous for an individual, than it is extremely difficult for a church (made up of a lot of individuals)! Sometime, much like my old blue shorts, we embrace the familiar rather than consider a fresh direction. Often in doing so, we settle for ministries of mediocrity because they “feel safe” rather than expose ourselves and take a risk. Instead of obeying God, we placate our people by bowing to the gold standard of Holy Spirit deterrence, “We’ve never done it that way before”!
God help us for watering down our convictions to the place where man’s approval is more coveted than that of God Almighty! Paul said in Gal 1:9-11 if he wanted to please man, he wouldn’t be servant of Christ. Far too long, the church has escaped the temporary discomfort of change and settled for status quo. This isn’t a new problem! Jesus said, “You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men…you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!” (Mark 7:8-9)
No more! It’s time to embrace change. Is it hard? Of course! But it’s absolutely necessary…that’s the next post.
