Change

It seems to me that most of us do not expect real change. We do not expect others to change, nor do we expect ourselves to change. We speak of praying, reading the Bible, and practicing other spiritual disciplines. Sometimes, we do not only speak of these things but actually do them.

Yet, when we do these things and nothing much seems to happen, we often accept that as the norm. There is a little frustration, a little questioning, and then resignation. When change does occur, we are shocked! In a way, that is an appropriate response - God's grace is amazing; nonetheless, does not our lack of expectancy betray a lack of belief that God will transform us?

An irate young man attends church. He has grown up in a Christian family. He attends church faithfully, belongs to a small group, even has regular devotions. Yet, his grumpiness does not change. He gets a job and becomes a husband and a father, but his irritability does not change. He ends up a grumpy old man. Nobody at church is surprised! Nobody asks: what is wrong with this picture? Of course he should not behave like this. Of course he should know better. But, he goes to church, he attends a small group, he reads the Bible and prays, so let us not worry too much about the rest.

Let us not worry too much about the rest?! If decades of attending church, reading the Bible, and praying do not result in change, something is desperately wrong. And yet, we often fail to notice the problem: we settle for having a form of religion but not it's power.

There are, however, a few groups of people that, regardless of denomination or church, seem to experience change more often than others:

Children. We expect children to change! We realize that children are not yet fully developed, that they have lessons to learn, and so we expect them to change. Children tend to be responsive and have yet to develop a cynicism that causes the rest of us to question the possibility of change. They also tend not to question the need for change - in fact, most can't seem to wait to grow up!

Youth. For all our stubbornness (when Thomas Edison was asked what advice he would give to youth, he said: "Youth doesn't take advice), youth have one quality that is vital to change: belief. Youth tend to believe that anything is possible. We are invincible, indomitable, and we go about everything with a gung-ho attitude. We often bite off far more than we can chew and adults often complain about "hangat hangat tahi ayam," but on occasion, our recklessness actually allows us to accomplish more than anyone thinks possible! Our belief that anything is possible is often misplaced; yet, that belief is necessary for change.

New converts. New converts look at the Christian life with a fresh perspective. It is new and desirable to them. Additionally, they tend to realize their desperate need to change whereas we Christians, leading the same kind of life may think we are doing just fine. There is a gratefulness and a realization of freedom. There are high expectations of the new life that God offers. Unfortunately, we human beings cannot seem to sustain gratefulness, realization of freedom, and expectation for long. A study showed that the average Christian will tell more people about Christ in the first six months after conversion that he will in the rest of his life. It would not be surprising if there is a correlation between that and change.

If only change were as easy as mentally visualizing it, logically organizing it, and verbalizing it with a blog post. And yet change we must. Change we must and continually changing we must be, if we are to be attractive and effective witnesses to those around us.