Don’t Change!

'Christ-like obedience is nothing less than a high cost, a great call, an unknown endeavor, and a priceless reward.'

One of the most subtle yet dangerous threats to our Christian growth is the fear or resistance to CHANGE! We have a slogan on youth camps and retreats that I instill in our parent chaperones and adult volunteers: “Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be broken!” When we resist change in our Christian lives, we walk the path that one man walked thousands of years ago, and his response gives us insight into why we must be willing to let God work in the way we know He will.

Who is this man? We all know him from our Sunday school classes as Jonah, the man who was swallowed by the great fish. But don’t let the wonders of marine biology distract you from a greater truth that lies deeper than the belly of the “whale”: Jonah was running away from change, from allowing God to stretch him in ways and in worlds he had never been before! After his brief stay in the Salty Stomach Suites, Jonah found himself struggling with the fact that God desired to have mercy on Ninevah. Jonah wanted to pronounce judgment, but God favored grace. Jonah wanted his way, not God’s way, and ultimately learned a powerful lesson in God’s love, sovereignty, and plans. What is interesting, however, is that before Jonah turned tail and ran, he knew what God’s intentions were, and he refused to line up to them! Jonah 4:1,2 says, “This change of plans upset Jonah, and he became very angry. 2 So he complained to the LORD about it: ‘Didn't I say before I left home that you would do this, LORD? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you were a gracious and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. I knew how easily you could cancel your plans for destroying these people.’”

Jonah understood the heart of God, the compassion and grace that God desired to share with the Assyrians, but Jonah’s own prejudice and resentment was an old wineskin that needed to be replaced. When we resist the inevitable changes that are on the horizons of life, we find ourselves in a place of failure, loneliness, and darkness (just like Jonah’s undersea adventure!). Imagine the corporate executive of a record company refusing to give way to Compact Disks when they began to skyrocket, and emphatically insisting, “We’ve always sold records in the past, and we always will!” One of the tale-tell signs that a church is in trouble is when people begin to say 6 words, “We’ve always done it this way”. One of the tell-tale signs that we are not growing in our personal walk with Christ is when we turn and run when God says “go”, when we find ourselves on voyages He never sent us on, and when we find ourselves washing up wet and weary on the very shores of the places He called us to venture out to.

So, the Lord wants to do a NEW WORK in this fellowship. He wants to pour out NEW WINE in new wineskins. He wants you to sing a NEW SONG as He grows you in areas you have never been in before. The question is, “Do you want God to leave you the same, or grow you?” Christ-like obedience is nothing less than a high cost, a great call, an unknown endeavor, and a priceless reward.—Pilgrim