A Word about the Blessing of Change

 

Today I want to share a word about the blessing of change, as I comment on 2 Corinthians 5:16-21. This Scripture reads: 

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation,  that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

Sometimes in life we just have to live with contradictions. For example, many people resist change. In fact, since we recently changed back to Daylight Saving Time where I live, I have heard many complaints (including my own) about how folks dislike having to change to and from Daylight Saving Time each spring and autumn. 

For many people, change is uncomfortable, and it is to be resisted. This is reflected in the old joke that asks “How many Baptists does it take to change a burned-out light bulb?” The answer is seven, one to change the bulb and six to stand in the parking lot after church and talk about how much they miss the old bulb and how it was brighter by far than the new one!

In contrast to this attitude is the saying that, “A change is as good as a vacation.” In other words, people who have gotten burned-out or bored with a situation are often revived by a change in routine, a change in scenery, or a change in their job. To folks in this situation, change is refreshing and it is to be embraced. The truth is, however, many people will fight change until they have no choice.

In our focal passage today, Paul underlines just how important change is in our spiritual lives. Basically Paul told us that our spiritual lives need to be totally rebuilt, the way we might demolish and replace a termite-eaten old house. There is nothing in our spiritual lives worth saving, because our righteousness is as filthy rags before God. Before God can create in us a new being, the old must be rooted out, the way that dead flesh in a wound must be debrided before it can healed and covered in healthy tissue. 

Sometimes this process of renewal is painful. A beloved family home that has to be demolished because it has become unsafe can cause emotional paint. Cleaning and debriding a wound certainly causes physical pain. Confronting our sin and shame can cause us spiritual pain, but in the end we are renewed, we are rebuilt, we are changed into a new creature, with all of our old, dead, sinful self cleaned out.

The results of our being rebuilt are two-fold according to this passage. First, we will find ourselves reconciled with God. Instead of being estranged from Him, we are restored to fellowship with Him and gathered into His bosom where we find peace, safety, assurance, and grace. Second, we become His personal emissaries, representing Him and His will and way wherever we go. As we go out representing Him, we can tell others about His love for them, by our deeds and attitudes first, and also with our words. We, then, can share in the blessing of helping others to find their lived radically changed by God in the way that our own life was. We can rejoice with them and look forward to being with them as we join with other believers in worshipping the Lamb in Heaven.

None of these blessings would happen if we resist the blessing of change. We must overlook any pain, any inconvenience, or any human embarrassment and cry out to God for Him to change us. He wants to, and when He does, we won’t pine for old times, or mourn lost ways of life. Instead, we will look around us and say, “Why did I wait so long to make this change?”

Let Christ overhaul your heart, and your life. You won’t be sorry; in fact you will rejoice with the angels in heaven!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt