Warning! You Need To Change!

I've been pondering something for a couple of days. Something everyone has to deal with, but most of us don't want to deal with it. No it's not our income tax return or a trip to the dentist for a cleaning or even worse...a root canal. It is change. Yea, change.

As a whole change is necessary to move forward in life. Change involves our position. I know you've heard the old adage "being in the right place at the right time". That's what position is. Sometimes we need to reposition in order to move ahead or to even stand our ground. But in most cases repositioning requires change. For most change is the direct opposite of comfortable!

Change is necessary to be effective in whatever we do. If we do something a certain way without getting the desired results perhaps we need to change the way we're doing what we're doing! My pastor always said, "If we do what we've always done, we will always have what we've always had!" That's speaks volumes to me. The problem is that what we've always had is not what God wants for us today! He is fresh, like a flowing river. He is always moving and wherever He moves life flows. 

The greatest roadblock to change, thus the roadblock to progress, is focusing on the past.  Many of us had wonderful pasts. Some would love to forget some of their past. But the truth is, looking back on "what we had" makes it impossible for you and me to acquire "what we need" to move ahead. Therefore we become stiff and brittle, not being pliable and resilient which is what we need to change. Focusing on "where I used to be" and how wonderful it was is in direct opposition to "where I am going" and how much more wonderful it could be. Notice I said "focusing" not remembering. There is a big difference. Back a few years I knew some people in which whose home a church was born. Over the years as the church grew these folks (as sweet as they were) always referred back to the days when the church was in their home. It's as if God could never top anything as good as that. The sad part is that's where their focus was. It was hard for them to move beyond the days that took place back then. Everything from back then and forward was measured against those particular days and experiences.

I see this so much in people today. Many people simply don't want to change and don't really realize it. To them it seems as if it will never be as good as it was "back then". The truth is...their focus has them blinded to reality. Listen to what Paul says in Philippians 3: 13a - 14, "...forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Please remember this..the goal is always ahead of you. It is never behind! God has so much in store for you, your family, and your church. But we must be willing to change in order move ahead to pursue it. Change may not be comfortable but it is vital!