“I am making everything new.” Revelation 21:5 NIV
“As you are, you are incompatible with God. God will not change; you must!”
My thoughts today are that “change happens.”
When you are eager for something – or yourself – to change, there are times that it feels like change will never come. Other times, change seems to be happening faster than you can cope. Whether you are eager or reluctant, change happens! Where there are no changes, there will be no growth, development, or increasing fruitfulness. And God is the greatest initiator of change in an individual’s life; maybe the only truly effective enabler for lasting change. In the Kingdom of God, change happens naturally unless you resist, not because you wish it so but because God wills it so and works to achieve your “being changed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” See 2 Corinthians 3:18 NKJV.
Genesis opens with cosmic change and Revelation concludes with eternal ones, where God is described as, “He who was seated on the Throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ Then He said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’” Revelation 21:5 NIV. God’s story is the story of irrepressible change to restore a fallen creation to its original intent. God is committed to that redemption and restoration, of Whom it is written, “For I am the Lord, I do not change . . the same yesterday, today, and forever . . in Whom there is no variation nor shadow of turning.” Malachi 3:6/Hebrews 13:8/James 1:17 NKJV.
Am I the only one amazed that God, who is eternal and never changing, is always effecting change in all of us? This is exactly because, as you are, you are incompatible with God yet He desires fellowship with you that would otherwise be impossible. How does God accomplish this you may ask? By every means possible, I would reply! “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose . . to be conformed to the likeness of His Son.” Romans 8:28-29 NIV. God will not always cause the things that happen to you, but He will use any and everything that happens to you as His opportunity to impact your life with necessary and positive change.
The best and most enduring change begins with your personal relationship with God. That’s where the first and most consequential changes must occur. Your best efforts to change will be merely cosmetic and temporary, apart from a current and vital relationship with Jesus. “Let us examine our ways and turn back to the Lord. Let us open our hearts to God in Heaven and pray . .” Lamentations 3:40-41 TEV. All change requires the power of God to accomplish and demands your letting go of the past. What you cling to, when contrary to what you know to be right, has the power to control and shape you in ways you might not anticipate.
My prayer for you today is that you embrace any change with God’s fingerprints on it.