I hate being told to that I need to change.
I’d much rather have someone tell me that I’m doing everything perfect rather than telling me that something needs to change. In the minds of most people, “change” is always negative, but “do” is new, positive, improved. “Do” is good.
My wife and I were talking just last night about a situation where some people we know are having trouble with change. They are so paralyzed by fear of doing something different that they are missing out on a huge opportunity.
Change is hard. We get comfortable seeing our lives, our jobs, our faith, our way of doing things a certain way. So much so that when new information is introduced, we often struggle to make changes. We cling to what is familiar, and distance ourselves from a new, better way of doing things.
At least we have the comfort of knowing that we are not alone in this struggle. It’s been happening for a very long time. The Apostle Paul wrote a letter to a group of Christians in Rome who were dealing with the same thing. Here’s what he said:
Paul knew that this one change could affect every area of their lives. In short, he’s calling these Christians to be different.
Jesus tells us that the world is a messed up place that tries to get us to be just as messed up. So when we keep doing the same things the world does, when we keep handling situations the way the world does, we become just as messed up.
If you only take away one thing from this post, remember this:
Doing what you’ve always done gets you what you’ve always gotten.
So take a look at your life. Is it chaotic? Are choices you’ve made coming back to haunt you? Are things you planned not quite working out the way you wanted? At the end of the day do you just want to throw your hands up and think “What’s the point?”
If so, it’s time for a change. Learning to think about things the way God does can change every aspect of your life, as long as you will let yourself be different.
This post is part of a series of posts every day this week. To see the other posts on this same subject see these links:
Living in the Word 