A friend has been going through a rough patch. She’s
experiencing change, making the transition from a PC to a Mac. Change is hard,
I know. In fact, I’ve made the switch from a Mac to a PC (not my choice), and
years later from a PC back to a Mac (definitely my choice.). Many times change
proves very worthwhile, but it takes time to make the adjustment.
In the technology world, change is non-negotiable. Have you
just bought a new computer, or tablet, or smartphone? Congratulations. It will
be obsolete within six months at the latest. Surely you’ll want to swap what
you’ve got for the latest and greatest, right?
But change isn’t just a technological phenomenon. It’s a
recurring theme throughout life. The simple act of being born is quite a change
in itself. No wonder the first thing babies do is cry: “Put me back in that
womb, right now!”
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| Crawling, standing and walking are just the first of many changes we face in life. |
Then little Johnny or Johanna figures how to do tricks like
roll over (“See, Rover, I can do that, too!”) and crawl. They’re just mastering
that skill, setting land-speed records in the infant crawl, and mommy and daddy
start coaxing them to walk. Stand up. Wobble a bit. Take a tentative step or
two. Then collapse on their bottom. “Ok, enough of this walking stuff. I’m all
for crawling from now on!” But parents have none of it, and before long Junior
or Missy is high-stepping all the way down the mall.
Changes, of course, are just starting. There’s potty
training, preschool, kindergarten and elementary school. Difficult changes for
both child and parents, watching their progeny start to progress through the
stages of life. Driver’s license. High school. Dating. College. Exciting, sometimes
traumatic. Changes that are inevitable, that must be addressed.
Next are major events like a first full-time job, getting
married (at least for some people these days), having children of their own,
changing jobs, moving from apartment to house, selling house and buying
another, changing jobs again, and so on. We learn that besides death and taxes,
the only constant is change.
The same is true spiritually. I can remember cruising along
in life, thinking I had everything under control, when suddenly I had a
life-changing encounter with God. I had occasionally performed some religious
act, like attending a church service, but most of my life probably looked as if
I were a practical atheist. If I had been charged with being a follower of
Christ, there wouldn’t have enough evidence to convict.
Then, while I was delightfully minding my own business, God
interrupted. Some of the changes He brought about in my life – and the life of
my family – were instant. Others have come slowly, day by day. That’s what
theologians call “sanctification,” the process God uses for transforming our
lives from what we once were to what He wants us to be.
Spiritual change is as difficult as any other kind. In 2
Corinthians 5:17 we’re told, “Therefore,
if anyone in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come.”
But this doesn’t mean the new life we receive is easy. It requires
unlearning old, destructive habits through the power of Christ, while learning
new, productive ones. Sometimes aspects of our former life still seem
appealing.
Romans 12:2 instructs, “Do
not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the
renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s
will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Again, easier said than
done, because it means being willing to change from what someone has termed
“stinkin’ thinkin’” and choosing instead to adopt a new mindset based on what
God has revealed in the Scriptures. Sometimes this change can occur quickly,
but often it takes place at tortoise speed.
Reading the Bible, it’s evident God is all for change; He’s
in the deconstruction and reconstruction business: “Do not call to mind the former
things, or ponder things of the past. Behold, I will do something new, now it
will spring forth; will you not be aware of it? I will even make a roadway in
the wilderness, rivers in the desert” (Isaiah
43:18-19).
So becoming a new creation in Christ takes time; it’s a
process. Like a master sculptor approaching a piece of granite to create a
magnificent sculpture, God comes to us in a similar manner. He’s bringing about
change – sometimes uncomfortable, even painful – gently and patiently chipping
away everything that doesn’t look like Jesus, so that one day we’ll experience
the truth of 1 John 3:2, “Dear friends,
now we are children of God, and what we will be has not been made known. But we
know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he
is.”
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