Does change excite you, or are you the type that tries to avoid change? We all have different ways that we deal with change. Some handle change really well, and some do not adapt to change so easily. We all have different seasons in our lives, and with each new season, we face new challenges and many changes. I know my family along with many others have been in a season of change, and our church has been going through a significant season of change as well.
As Christians, our lives have been eternally changed by the grace and mercy of Jesus. Daily, Christ is changing and transforming us into His own image (2 Corinthians 3:18). This transformation is both an internal and an external change. God made us to learn and grow, and He specifically made us to learn and grow in Him. Ever since I became a Christian, I have found that no place feels quite like home, and over the years, I have begun to realize that this world is not our home if we are in Christ. Instead my heart longs for my eternal home with Jesus. In this world we are “aliens and strangers” (1 Peter 2:11), and Hebrews 13:14 tells us, “For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.” Thankfully Paul gives us some words of encouragement in Philippians 3:20-21 by saying, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
Change, growth, and transformation are unavoidable in this life, and yet, God seems to use each moment to teach us more about Him. When we became Christians, God in His sovereign wisdom chose to leave us here on this sinful earth to now be witnesses and ambassadors for Him to the unbelieving world. Each day, may we live our lives with that reality in our minds. I have found this mindset begins to dull the pain of change and growth. When we know we have been promised eternal glory in the presence of our holy and perfect God, we begin to see purpose in each day, each challenge, and each opportunity for growth.
May our hearts cry out with the words of Paul in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me.” As a by-product, we change, we grow, and we go as Christ leads us. “To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:21).
In Christ,
Nick, Amanda, and Julia
