i'm going through change...

i have just made a major change in my life. when i go to church now, i don't preach. i used to preach up to 3 times a week now i have shortened my messages and i am doing it 7 times a week. the reality is, i shared with more people last week than i did every week in getting up in front of people. i made a change.

now change is a difficult thing for a lot of people. fast change causes frustration, fear. we wonder, "where are we going?" and the Bible talks about this in 2 Corinthians 4. paul the writer was saying, don’t get discouraged when these things are happening all around you -- these problems and pressures and changes are occurring. v. 16 - 18 (ms), so we're not giving up. how could we! even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, on the inside, where GOD is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace. these hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us. there's far more here than meets the eye. the things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. but the things we can't see now will last forever.

now in this, paul says that everything in life can be divided into two different groups: those things that are permanent and those that are temporary. those things that are visible, that we can see and those things that are invisible, the values in life that last. those things that are changeless and those things that are constantly changing. and the key to learning how to cope with change is to focus on the things that are going to last.

if you want to be solid when the winds of change are blowing everything all over the place and it looks like everything is coming apart and uprooted, he says focus your attention, fix your eyes on what is not seen, on the values that are going to last, the things that are permanent. he says base your life on the things that are going to last forever.

for many these past few months have been times of great change. i have very good friends who have lost their jobs, others have lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in the stock market. i remember when we found out that margaret, my wife had cancer. changes happen.

but is there anything permanent in life? yes, there is. hebrews 13:8 is the one thing that is permanent in life. JESUS doesn't change—yesterday, today, tomorrow, he's always totally himself.

while everything else is changing, he remains changeless. all that JESUS CHRIST was yesterday that we read about in the bible, HE is today. and all that HE is today, HE will be tomorrow. and JESUS CHRIST is already in your future. GOD is not limited by time. HE's past, present and future. when you get in the future, HE's going to already be there. that's comforting because i know whatever change i go through, HE's going to be there ahead of me. the new international version says it this way, JESUS CHRIST is the same yesterday, today and forever.

let's put our trust in that which doesn't change, not in what will always change.

just some thoughts up here on bill's front porch...