Positive Change or Positively NO Change?

   Stepping through the doorway of our bathroom, my wife found me in front of the sink looking into the mirror combing my hair. She approached and we began to exchange small talk and discuss the items that were on our agenda for that day. After a few moments and halfway through her sentence, she stopped and gazing at the side of my head exclaimed, ‘I don’t believe it. Do you know you have some grey hairs coming in?’

   Now there are many things a husband wants to hear from their wives. For instance, have you been working out? You look good; you’re a great provider for our family; you’re so handy…these are all acceptable comments. What doesn’t make it on our short list are phrases like…You’re not going to wear that are you? Do you think you could finish the addition on our house before our toddler gets married? Does this outfit make me look fat?

   For clarification sake, let’s say the grey haired comment didn’t make it on my short list [Honestly, I’m thankful for all the hairs I have on my head at this point regardless of their color]. But this did remind me of the fact that change is inevitable. No matter how much we try to fight it, deny it, or cover it up, change comes.

   The question I want to ask is, do you allow meaningful change to enter your life or do you fight all change as a threat to your tranquility? In other words, are you afraid of change or do you consider change a part of life and personal growth?

    In a world full of critics and naysayers, it’s easy to become locked into a routine. It’s safe. It’s comfortable. There are little or no surprises. So many people have been frozen with indecision and won’t do anything because they’re afraid about what others might say or think about them or what might happen. But what are we giving up by remaining inflexible? What are we giving up by never trying something new? If we never venture out of our comfort zones or if we never attempt anything that we might fail at, we will never know our real potential.

    Unless we allow change in our life, how can we grow, improve, or learn from our past mistakes? Maybe, our greatest criticisms don’t come from the outside world. Maybe they’re nestled within the deepest recesses of our minds, and they whisper to us our shortcomings and past failures often. Furthermore, the belief that we can keep anything from changing is a myth. Everything changes. There is only One who is immutable (unchanging) and that is God.

   I miss absolute truth. It’s been dying over the past 2 decades, and few people have noticed or missed its presence. In its place our culture has come up with this ‘say-only-what-is-positive-and-nice’ mentality. It doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not. But people don’t need to be smiled at and told what they want to hear. Jesus didn’t say, you will know happiness and a smile will set you free. No, He said, ‘You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.’ John 8:32    

    If we come across error in someone’s life [our own included], are we not to lovingly instruct them with the truth? I would go so far as to say that we’re not loving them if we don’t speak truth. All of us need someone in our lives who is not that impressed by us. Meaning, we need someone who will tell us what we need to hear. And when we hear it, the best thing to do isn’t ‘build up a wall’ and plan our counter-offensive. The greatest three words that we should remember at these moments are …we can change. We can change our behavior, our outlook, and even our current lifestyle. In other words, We are free to learn, grow, and change behavior. We don’t have to be relegated to our current station in life.

   In the same way, change is something we expect out of our children. We love them; we instruct them; we correct them; we feed them knowledge, and they change. There’s an assumption of growth with children. It would be cruel to wish our children to remain the same. It’s unhealthy when they don’t grow.

   Brooke Greenberg loves shopping and listening to music according to her parents. But for the past decade or so, she has baffled the doctors. Brooke, for some unknown reason, hasn’t grown past a toddler. Many doctors have tested and tried, but they are unable to diagnose her condition because they can’t find what’s causing it. At age 16, she is 30” tall and still has her baby teeth. The only visible growth in Brooke’s life is her hair and nails. Some have even dubbed her ‘The Fountain of Youth’ because she doesn’t appear to have aged. Why is her story so remarkable? Growth is expected, and when it doesn’t happen, we know something has gone wrong.

(For more on Brooke, visit http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Health/story?id=7880954)

   When it comes to adults, why is it that we’re all too willing to accept monotony? We get locked into a routine and a way of life and lash out at anyone or anything that challenges our ‘security.’

   Have you ever considered that some of the changes being pushed on us are not from society? God actually wants us to change. These aren’t trivial changes either. He wants the kind of change that only His Spirit can provide. These changes are meant to make us like Christ. Not to turn us into exact replicas of Jesus where we all walk around in robes and grow beards, but to take us and teach us how to trust, pray, live, and act as if Jesus were in complete control of our lives.

    Do you know the greatest part about it? We’re not left to make these changes on our own. In fact, there’s no way we could ever produce the change that’s needed in us.

    William Temple used to illustrate this point in the following way: 
   “It is no good giving me a play like Hamlet or King Lear, and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could do it; I can’t.
   And it is no good showing me a life like the life of Jesus and telling me to live like that. Jesus could do it; I can’t.  
   But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like his. 
   And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, then I could live a life like his.”  

   Contrary to what others may say, God wants us all to succeed. Not in the way the world defines success, but to live out our lives doing what He made us for.

   We need to remember that no one by their words can place us in a ‘box’ or control our lives unless we allow them to…God included. And He’s the only one who has the right. And His change is good and perfect, and comes to us when we are filled with His Spirit. This is the meaningful change that all of us needs. This is the change that the world is longing to see.