CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT

I find it interesting that one of the only constants in life is change, yet how many people don’t like or welcome change. Some will say that they always want things to stay the same, but that can’t be true. If nothing ever changes, if there is no growth, if there is just the same “thing” in our life always, then how do we advance ourselves.

Much of this is probably because we can be creatures of habit and can convince ourselves that we maintain a certain amount of control over life if things don’t change. But, we need to realize that we don’t have the control we think. We can decide what actions or decisions we want to make, but that should not be misunderstood as “control” over what goes on around us.

If we truly want to take the stance that we do not need and do not desire change in our lives, then we are actually taking an unbiblical approach to our walk with God. My wife used the example of the lame man by the healing pool in the sermon this week. For 38 years this man waited for healing but he never found it through this ritual of being the first in the waters after the angel stirred the waters of the pool. Little did he know that on that day, he was going to encounter the One that planned to heal this lame man before he was even born.

When Jesus asked this man if he wanted to be healed, he didn’t respond with a yes or no, rather he responded with the excuse of why he hasn’t been healed after all these years. Jesus didn’t ask for an excuse or reason, He just asked if he wanted to be healed. We might read this account and think that this man is such a fool, not even realizing who he was speaking to. Yet, how often do we actually give Jesus the same response and we have the privilege of knowing who He is and what He can do!

We tell Jesus that we are this way because that’s just how we are made or how we were born. We tell Him that we’re working on it and one day we will get better, so don’t get frustrated with me Jesus, I am trying my best. And just a side note, Jesus knows how we are made and born… He is the One that made us. The funny thing is, Jesus is not asking us to “try” harder or give it our best effort. He is just asking us if we want to be healed. That just requires a “yes” or “no” answer, not a single excuse.

Eventually Jesus told this man to get up, pick up his mat, and walk. Jesus had already healed the man, but this man had to realize he was healed and walk in it. To think that he could have stayed in his misery, lying there even after encountering Jesus, because he was “stuck” in this rut. The healing had happened, but what if he kept making excuses, not even knowing that the healing had happened and he could have rem