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changes, turn and face the change.

i love change, i mean i truly love change. things that are the same for very long start to go stale. so, in that i love change. everything we are is about change. we age, we diet, we buy new, we buy old, we try different things - change is the center of all we are, and everything we do - everything that we can see, touch, smell, hear, know, think we know and even think we know for sure changes.

i am always amazed at people who fear change; what it there to fear? change is a constant, and in that it is neither good or bad - it just is. we get older, some may see that as bad, while others see it as good. change, all change, is relative to the place you are in life. it is defined by the conditions of your sum total experience.

eveything about our faith centers on change - everything. when we come to the understanding of christ and decide to walk in his light, we change. everyday we are seeking to go deeper, know more, see more, live more, laugh more, love more, forgive more, touch more, embrace more, encounter more we seek change in our lives. if not, if we do not seek change in our lives our faith is dead. because things that are dead decay, they do not change.

i find it a shame when people claim we can not change, that it is our human nature to be what we are and that change is impossible. i keep going back to what paul writes in his letter to the romans, "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." [12:2]

you see, when i read this i read paul telling people that if you settle on just being, and do not seek change you will never please God. in seeking the status quo all you get is "what is" and never what will be. if we see change in the light that it is, a transforming power that can bring us closer to God, we then seek to walk that extra mile and connect just that much deeper.

change is not to be feared; it should be embraced.

2 comments:

john o'keefe said...

paul,

thanks for the comments and the visit. i am not certian i would agree that God created systems that we can predict. i think, at best, we can guess - and in some cases give a "best guess." but nothing in life is predictable :) while it is true that scripture says God never changes, we do all the time - and so does the world around us.

change is a natural part of life, and i believe there is less consistancy in life then many may think. what i have seen in churches is that people hide behind the walls and complain about the changes in the world - in stead of finding ways to reach people outside :)

Brian said...

John,

I agree with where you're coming from, perhaps because I am in the middle of one of the most life-changing moments I've ever experienced.

In my disagreement with Paul's comments, I would simplify it like this:

Anything that is alive must grow.
The clinical term for something that is not growing is "dead".
Therefore, if we are alive, we must be growing in some way.
And to grow is to change.
Maybe we should settle for finding our consistency in the fact that we are consistently changing.