I hope and pray today is a good day for you. Today is Inauguration day, the changing of our executive branch of government. Regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, today is a day of change. Change comes, whether we are prepared for it or not. Change is a certainty and it can give each of us pause. Changes in our daily lives, in our relationships, in our finances, in our employment. Change is a constant, and it is something many of us don’t do well.
Why is change so hard on us? I would say for me, I’m a creature of habit and routines. I like my routines, they are familiar and comforting. It provides a steadiness that something in me craves. When my habits and routines are altered, I’m sort of out of place in my mind. I find it difficult to move forward because the familiar has been upset.
This is not however, how God created us to be. We like familiarity because it feels like we have some control over our life. God created us and the world to be in a constant state of change. Think about it, from the moment we’re born until the day we die, we are constantly going through change. The world is not stagnate, it is ever changing and ever evolving. This has to have been God’s plan for all of creation, to not stand still, but to move and change.
When facing change, we might find some comfort and advice in what God has to say. In Jeremiah 29:11 we find God saying “‘For I know the plans I have for you’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” We can find solace in knowing God has a plan for our lives and is watching over us in the midst of whatever change we are going through.
We have the tendency to always want to return to the familiar, go back to the ways before whatever we have just had to endure. That’s not where God is calling us, God is always calling us forward, not backward. In Isaiah 43: 18-19 God tells us, “Forget the former things, do not dwell on the past. See, I am doing a new thing.” We have to believe God’s new thing is what is for us at this time. Returning to the old and familiar would say we don’t trust the future God has planned for us.
The world around us is changing, even now. If we will conform our thinking to one of hope, our future will be bright indeed. In Romans 12: 1-2 Paul urges the Roman church to let their relationship with Jesus transform their lives, their relationships, their minds. When our thinking is transformed, our life will be ordered by God and change won’t be so scary. Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
You see, God’s future is perfect, how we fit into that future is up to us. If we allow ourselves to long for what was, we can never be ready to receive what will be. Let’s you and me embrace the future with open arms, knowing God is there beckoning us forward.
Please pray for the success of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. They will need our support and prayers as they navigate the future for our country. Again, regardless of where you fall on the political spectrum, the success of our country depends on the support we give it and our leaders. The future before is going to be an awesome place, come and see!
Blessings and Peace,
Pastor Tom