Are You Ready To Change? When the elders address the congregation in a few weeks to encourage us and layout goals for the upcoming year, they’re going to ask us to change. To most people, change is scary. We do everything we can to avoid change and keep the status quo. But for earnest Christians, change is welcomed, because we can’t improve in our service to God without change. Change Requires Repentance We may think about repentance from sin, and think if we change it means we’ve been sinning. But that’s not necessarily true. As Christians, we are constantly learning more about God, and changing to be more like Him. We never reach a point where we are absolutely perfect, and don’t need to change. Paul gives himself as an example of constantly striving to do his best, changing to become more perfect every day, but never reaching absolute perfection till in heaven. “Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:12-14). Pride a Stumbling Block To change, we must admit we’re doing something that’s wrong, outdated, or needs improvement. But because of pride, we sometimes think we’re perfect. As a result, we’re ashamed to change because it’s an admission that we’re doing something inadequate, or possibly even wrong. Many years ago, I heard a series of lessons on evangelism and became angry, because of my unwillingness to change. Pride was at the root of my anger. I couldn’t bare to admit I was inadequate in my service to God, and that I needed to change. But once I learned to deal with my pride, I changed and became a better Christian, like Hezekiah, who had to humble the pride of his heart before he could change (2 Ch. 32:26). Change Necessary For Improvement For example, a high school basketball player goes to practice every day for two months. At the first game, everyone at school sees how much he’s improved. Why was the basketball player better? Because he changed and improved. As Christians, we are constantly learning from God, and improving in our service. The improvement we make is a result of change. We are doing things differently than before. Jesus changed when He was a boy, increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. And we must change also, and improve in our service to God. Faithful Christians Are Changing We can tell the difference between a strong Christian and a weak Christian, by whether they are changing to become better Christians. A strong Christian is changing and growing to improve in his service to God (2 Pet. 1:5-8). But a weak Christian is stale and stagnant, lukewarm, not growing at all, and shrinking back to perdition (Heb. 10:39). And since a congregation is composed of individual Christians, it undergoes change to improve in its service to God, as the members change and improve. We Want To Change We want to change to serve God better than before, because we love Him, and want to please Him in everything we do.
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