I resist change. Even good change. It shakes my being like an earthquake. My wants and desires fall from the shelves and break like china against the invisible force. I’m more of a variety girl – keep the structure steady and unchanging and allow me the freedom to paint the walls, sew new curtains or re-arrange the furniture as I’d like. Unfortunately, if I call myself a disciple of Jesus Christ, that requires CHANGE. Here’s what I mean…

In Philippians 3:13b-14, Paul exhorts us to FORGET what lies behind and STRAIN toward what is ahead as we press on toward the goal. In the previous verses, Paul states that he considers ALL his earthly riches a LOSS compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ as LORD. He considers them “rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own….but one through faith.” (Phil 3:8,9)

Do you hear the change that MUST take place? Consider another passage:

Matthew 9:16-17 Jesus says, “No one sews a patch of un-shrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

And one more…

Matthew 18:3 “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

Before new wine can be useful and preserved, the old skin must be thrown away. Before we can STRAIN toward what is ahead, we must FORGET and THROW OUT what lay behind. Before we can KNOW the surpassing greatness of Christ, we mush consider all things a LOSS. Before we can ask Christ to be our LORD and Master, we must first CONFESS and REPENT. We get to trade in our old way of life for Jesus’ new beginning. Variety won’t cut it here. Moving around the same old habits and patterns while keeping the same framework isn’t change. That’s a mask. Masks must be ripped off. This is CHANGE.

Here the internal struggle begins. It’s called Spirit-filled vs Flesh. Our flesh wants nothing more than to hold on tightly to our old ways, old thinking patterns, old stand-bys. It won’t RELEASE without a FIGHT. With reminders of past sights, smells, tastes and feelings, our flesh grasps to keep the flame of the old self alive. It’s in that moment we must die to ourself, turn around (aka change), and accept the good news Jesus offers. Do you know what that good news is? The power of sin and our flesh is BROKEN by the POWER of the CROSS for all who believe.

Change may rock us to the core and leave us bare-shelved and broken. Thankfully, the CHOICE to change comes from us, but the POWER of transformation belongs to CHRIST alone. Will you join me in this journey of change? The price is high…in fact it may cost everything! But the end result is so much better than new curtains or re-arranged furniture.

Philippians 3:20-21 “But our citizenship is in Heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the LORD Jesus Christ, who by the power that enables him to bring everything under  his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

Have you ever taken a short cut only to find yourself….lost? That 5 minutes you were saving has long expired and been replaced with 30 minutes extra! Sometimes I wonder when I’ll realize that taking the familiar road isn’t so long after all.

There’s a similar story in the book of Exodus where God took His people, the Israelites, the long way around. However, His plans are always perfect and hidden in this “long-cut” lay a lesson about Himself….

Exodus 13:17-18 says, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.’ So God led the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.”

Did you notice how God didn’t lead the Israelites the short way? He intentionally took them by the long road, lest they see difficulties and turn back. But do you remember what BIG THING lay on this “long road”? Yes, the Red Sea. God knew full good and well it was approaching. He didn’t panic when Moses reached the edge of land and the people were wailing, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die?”. God didn’t look to Jesus and say, “Shoot! I forgot about the Red Sea! Holy Spirit, pull up the GPS map and see where they need to go from here!!” No, God had a plan.

So if God’s in control and He’s intentionally, on purpose, divinely guided his people to the edge of disaster, what are they supposed to do? What is He doing and WHY? These are the kind of questions I ask when faced with my version of the Red Sea. Verse 15 of Chapter 14 answers it best. “The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.” Then in verse 18, God explains part of the why…. “The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horseman.”

If you haven’t noticed, to just keep walking when the road ends takes faith. Abundant faith.
God’s ways are higher than our ways, so we can’t always know WHY, but we can rest in the fact that He knows. Maybe He has us here to refine us, or meet the needs of someone around us, like the Egyptians in the example above. It could be just to bring Him glory. It’s not because God needs an ego boost, but because the sooner we focus our eyes on Him and take the spotlight off ourselves, the more satisfied and abundant people we will be. That’s just how He created us, how He knit us. We have an insatiable NEED for God. Only when we come to that realization and yield to it can we walk through the water that threatens to flood our path. Circumstance don’t catch God off guard. He’s not reeling and searching GOOGLE to find the answer to my problem. He’s in control of it. He’s at the helm. He’s the CREATOR.

“Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” (Ex 13:14) Will our hearts obey Him when we hear Him saying that to US?

My son once told me, “Cars are like shoes and trucks are like boots.” I’ve reveled Caleb’s natural, sixth sense of categories since he was 9 months old. I remember reading one of his picture books together and he pointed eagerly to a bar of soap and washcloth on the page. He immediately closed the book, grabbed my hand and insisted we walk down the hall to his bathroom where there was also a bar of soap and washcloth draped over the tub. Words weren’t even necessary for me to know he’d connected the dots!