Good Ol’ Post
So I have been having too much fun lately posting videos, wallpapers and the like that I have failed to just put up a good old standbye post. Lately I have been thinking about change. First off don’t get started thinking some big change is coming in my life, cause it isn’t. (at least not that I am aware of yet)
When one thinks of the word, change, usually it is something most of us think of as negative or we are resistant to change. Unless you are in a terrible circumstance, most of use would not like change. After all we are creatures of habit and when something gets in the way of the norm, we frown upon it or even worse resist it to the death. This can be especially true in the context of our evangelical churches. Change can be seen as the enemy. Why change something when it has worked before? Or speaking of individuals character we often think of someone open to change as weak. Its where we get terms or phrases such as, “solid as a rock”, “immovable fortress”, or “unchangeable,” however, aren’t these suppose to apply to God, or Jesus Christ, and not to us as individuals? Is not the process of becoming more Christ-like mean that we need to be constantly changing? And isn’t the Church, the bride of Christ on the same process too? I am reading Erwin McManus’ new book Wide Awake, and in his chapter called Adapt he speaks to this very idea. On conviction in our faith he has this to say, “Conviction is a popular excuse for rigidity, but faith should actually make us more pliable, not less.” Is this not the faith that Paul demonstrated when he spoke in 1 Corinthians 9, saying, “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.” While Paul “became all things to all men,” he did so with deep conviction. No one would ever describe Paul as someone weak, yet he sure changed and adapted much. I’m sure it wasn’t always easy for Paul to change, after all he was Jewish, and he did come from a very religious background. This was a guy who once was a top leader in persecuting followers of Jesus teachings, and was even present at the stoning of Stephen. This was his family, his background, and he changed much. But he didn’t stop changing after his conversion on the road to Damascus and that is one difference between Paul and many of western evangelicals. We are holding firm yes, but we are not adapting. Erwin also writes, “There are times when the greatest act of courage and the best evidence of character is the willingness to change.” Is it time for change? How should you and I adapt?
