Day 139: Accepting Change

"He who rejects instruction hates himself, but he who gives heed to reproofs loves his soul."  Proverbs 15:37

This comparison cannot be any more extreme than this: hate and love.

Why is this necessary?  Well, if we think about this, it applies to so many different aspects of our lives.  In a general sense, we need to be willing to learn from everything, especially our own mistakes.  We can go forth in our lives doing things the same way we've always done them, but if that is harmful, we only bring ourselves further and further into damage.  When we accept change in our lives, we can turn away from anything that harms us and become better people.

In a spiritual sense, this is important because it is our whole life we are talking about.  Jesus speaks to us every single day.  It's only when we accept the change that Jesus calls for us to do that we will be able to become better people.  Accepting that change will involve not just a confession by word, but also a change in how we live our lives.  We need to live out that change.

In school, I was taught that doing drugs was bad for the body.  It's bad because each use will continue to damage the body, and if done enough times (the amount depending on the individual) it would lead to an addiction, which was very difficult to turn back from.  We learned to point our judging fingers towards those who used drugs.  That's an extreme case, but it still explains this proverb to me, because it's very easy to look at other people and see how they're damaging their lives with their own habits.  We can see when our friends are in destructive relationships, dead end jobs, or making bad decisions for their health.  We say to ourselves, "they must truly hate themselves."  This proverb, though, calls us to point that finger back at ourselves.  We need to investigate all that we do.  Are we willing to accept change?  It's easy for us to point out that necessity in others, and since we already can, can we do that to ourselves?  Can we truly live out that change?

The only way we can love our soul is by accepting and living the change that Jesus calls us to do.  It will involve a commitment, but we have already made that commitment in our baptism that we remember every time another member is added to our great family of baptized people.  We have to remember that we are in this world, constantly resisting the devil, fighting the good fight.  We need to stop hating ourselves and, instead, start bettering ourselves.

Day 124: Change that Saves

"But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation."  Hebrews 9:11

This is a message that is so pertinent to today, especially for those who wish to see the Church continue to grow.

To start, this passage refers specifically to the new tabernacle that Jesus brings about with his coming to earth.  He instituted something that was drastically different: one sacrifice for all eternity, a complete forgiveness of sin, love of God.  That's quite a change from the older Mosaic tabernacle, but it was necessary for the spreading of the Gospel.

Today, there are many churches that are dying everywhere, and those congregations are turning to many different consultants from different places.  Some are even looking to consultants for large businesses so that they can make the best business decisions.  But, I would say that there is a fundamental issue: we hold onto our old customs, even if they do lead us straight to complete failure.

We want to be comfortable.  We know that things that have sustained us for long stretches of time should still work.  At the very least, those things are comfortable.  When I was a little kid, I loved eating fried foods as my main source of food.  However, over time, I gained lots of weight because of my decisions, and, even more recently, I'm finding that fried foods make my stomach upset for quite a long time after enjoying.  Yet, I want to be able to eat them because they are so good!

I am sure that we all have issues that we could talk about.  Maybe you can't run as far as you used to.  Maybe you shouldn't see that one ex lover who used to be great in the past but now only serves as a temptation to you.  Maybe you can't sit in front of the TV all day because of the threat of debilitating weight complications.

We need this same sort of mentality with our churches.  The churches are not ours; they are God's.  As such, we need to remember to listen for God's advice on all matters.  That might mean that you will have to start playing different music.  That might mean that you will have to incorporate more modern language, or even an entirely different language.  That also might mean that you will have to dissolve a community and embrace another.  I cannot speak for every church that is out there, but I do know that there are always difficult decisions to be made.  And that's where we need to start remembering what Jesus has done.

Jesus has come into the world to bring us all closer to God via change.  Jesus wants to change us all for the better.  That means that we need to be going back to God every chance that we get (which is, of course, all the time).  Jesus is showing all of the good things that are in existence.  Most of all, we need to remember that Jesus is going to be working in our communities, even when that means that our hand prints will be supplanted by his.

When we allow for Jesus to renew us, we will be able to change for the better.  We need to open up our arms that were once crossed in front of us so that we can welcome Christ's embrace.

Day 094: Lord of the New

So the scribes and Pharisees watched Him closely, whether He would heal on the Sabbath, that they might find an accusation against Him.  But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here."  And he arose and stood.  Then Jesus said to them, "I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy?"  Luke 6:7-9

Jesus came into the world to change things, and the way he did that was very direct.

One of the things that probably separates so many of us from one another is language.  Language is something that humans use to communicate with one another, but when two people don't speak the same language, there is a stark disconnect between the groups of people.  I know that in my own family, we will switch back and forth between Spanish and English in order for others not to understand what we are talking about (at times).

We speakers of English, though, might forget that there are so many people around the globe that don't understand English.  We like to think that English is the only way to speak to one another, and if somebody can't speak English, then that person is deficient.  Historically, many cultures looked down upon the others that didn't speak the same language as they did (ever hear of the word barbarian?), but that still goes on to this day.  And, it's not only English speakers who have that prejudice.

In the same way, the Pharisees looked at Jesus.  He was doing many new things, and they were amazing, revealing the unconditional love of God for all of God's people, but the Pharisees rejected those things because they were different.  Rather than accept a new Gospel, they wanted to stick with the things as they were, even if that was actually hurting them.

Jesus challenges us every day to accept the new and the good.  The good might look very strange to us at the first glance, but if we live as the disciples did, attempting to understand every word and teaching that Jesus did, and not as the Pharisees, finding all things new to be bad, we will enjoy blessing after blessing.

Day 093: Taking the Initiative

"And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, 'The old is better.'"  Luke 5:39

Change is tough.  A phrase that comes to mind is, "Humans are creatures of habit."

However, that's what Jesus came into the world to do: change.  He came to change the way things worked.  He came to change the world.  He came to change each and every one of us.  Just as in the beginning of his ministry, his change is still not being well received.  For many of us, church can be something that we just do out of habit.  We need something to do on boring Sunday mornings, so why not go to church?  Make sure to sit in the back so that nobody will notice whether you're paying attention or not.  Stare down at your phone while the music is going.  Sleep through the sermon.  Cross your arms during the offering and communion.  It's easy to repeat the same prayers over and over again to the point where they have no meaning.  Do we really want God to provide us with our daily bread?  Do we really not want to be led into temptation?  Do we really believe in the one church?

Jesus came into the world to ask us these questions.  We might have trouble with our faith, but the neat thing is that we can actually take our first steps to changing our lives with Jesus' guidance.  Sure, it may seem that things are fine just the way they are, but sometimes you might feel that there's something missing.  Perhaps it's time to open up the doors of the church to new people.  Perhaps it's time to donate time and treasure to charity.  Perhaps it's time to become active in church.  No matter what it is, Jesus is there to help us.

The Holy Spirit will always be nagging at us to make our lives better.  We just need to take the courage to accept the new as good and not just as something scary.  It will definitely take an effort, but we will be able to accomplish it all with God's help.