Leading Ahead: Change Happens
1 At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?"
2 He called a child, whom he put among them,
3 and said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 18:1-3
Change is often difficult. If the change means doing something different than we are used to doing it, it can be very strenuous. Welcoming a new baby is strenuous. You have to adjust your sleep pattern, you might have to get use to not having a perfectly clean house 24/7.
Certainly when we get married, there is change we didn’t expect when one of us is use to folding towels one way and our significant other does it another way. Family traditions need to be blended in order to accommodate the other’s needs. “This is the way my family does it.”
But what we learn is that there is not only one way of doing things. The change we must go through is arduous, but doable if one is patient and learns.
After a while, you realize the change wasn’t so bad. In fact, it is now refreshing to do things differently. Change wasn’t so bad. Sometimes, we need to change. Otherwise, what we do becomes so rote, so mundane, that we lose interest in what we are doing, forget why we are doing it and end up taking it for granted. We stop having a rhyme and reason for what we do. We become so set in how we do things, those things lose their meaning. “I don’t why, it’s just what we’ve done.”
Another part of change is that it comes slow. That means we must be patient as something or someone transitions. As Jesus states in the text above, “unless you change (Greek word “to turn,” “to change inwardly,” “be converted”), and become as the children, you cannot enter (again, a Greek word meaning “to share in,” “to come to enjoy”) the kingdom of heaven.
Change can be good, especially if it is positive change. When Christ entered the world as a child, the change that came about was good change because it meant God is with us.
When Christ changed his location from earth into heaven, that was a change for his disciples, but a good change so that Christ could send his Spirit to us and into us.
For Paul, his world was changing. He went from a persecutor to a preacher. It wasn’t easy, but it was necessary for mission and ministry to happen.
For us, as the church, if the church isn’t changing, it is dying. As much as dying is a part of life, so too, change is a part of living. We are born, we enter grade school, then Junior High and Senior High, all the while changing. In maturity. Intellectually. Physically. Emotionally. There is a change from total dependence to independence. When we are challenged, we grow, or at least we should grow. Even for us who are older, change is not through coming to us. We may face change in our activities, finances and living conditions and locations.
Change is good, if we embrace it with remembering that Jesus Christ has promise to be with us through changes to bring us to the place where God is wanting and needing us. When we are in that place, the place of being a child and trusting God, we have entered into and share in the kingdom of God’s presence in our life.
~Pastor Kent