Change Is Inevitable, Obedience Is Not

Martha and I love change

We love the newness of change

We love the challenge of change

Change can be good

Staying the same can lead to being “stuck in a rut”. When our forefathers were blazing trails in their horse drawn buggies they tried to follow the ruts. If there were ruts in the ground, it was easier to follow them than to create new ones. Ruts were the path of least resistance. Eventually someone broke free of the ruts and started a second lane or a path that led off in a new direction – maybe even a short cut. I would guess that trailblazer was mocked for not following the path. This change in direction led to the many streets and highways we have today and the settling of our great nation. Horse drawn carts led to cars and now our cars can practically drive themselves.

I love the feeling of change so much that I tend to crave the challenges it brings. Sometimes God asks us to stay the course and remain on the path. He wants us to be patient with His plan that will eventually take us into new wonders. However, I find not changing hard.

I find obedience hard when it doesn’t fit my plan.

The challenge for you and me today? Are you willing to let God orchestrate when and where we experience change or blaze a new path? Whether that change be a career path, a move, hiring another staff person, running for Congress, or mentoring a young adult – let God lead.

Chris Tomlin says in “Everlasting God” – “our” strength will rise as we wait upon the Lord. God will bring change but let Him do it and wait. Better to obey…

Acts 5:29 English Standard Version (ESV)

29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!

Getting Old and Irrelevant, or Willing to Change?

It happens to all of us. God gives us a direction and we move toward that direction and eventually that new direction becomes routine. That routine has the danger of getting stuck in a rut.

What am I talking about? I know that it's happened to me at least three or four specific times in my life where God placed a ministry in my life and asked me to be obedient serving there for a season, but I didn't recognize the end of the season. Sometimes that ministry was in business, or the church, or my community, but it was still ministry.

Here's what I so often forget - what has a beginning, often has an end. What is relevant today, may not be relevant two years from now.

I need to be open to when the Holy Spirit tells me change is on the horizon. When God asks me to finish one task and move onto another, I need to be willing to let go and obey. I don't want to become out of date and irrelevant, or do things just because I've "always done it that way". Take for instance Sears and Kmart - they didn't adjust and now they are extinct.

The gospel is fresh and brings freedom in new ways every day. How is God asking you to bring that fresh Gospel message of freedom to the people you work alongside today? Is it a different approach than what you have done in the past?

Let's be open to change and realize that God is at the center of that change. He wants to be Relevant to those we work around each and every day.

Truth is truth and it's never changing. How the truth is presented may change. It was once from a street corner or a pulpit and today it may be online blogs and podcasts. Still the same message.

Are you stuck in a rut or are you willing to change?

Let go and let God lead you into new fresh waters.

Here's a few of our favorite resources to help you in a fresh way:

• The Pocket Testament League

• Right Now Media at Work

• Jim and Martha's book lists

Lamentations 3:23

23 Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.

About the Author, Jim Brangenberg

Jim's Mission: We are called to be examples of Christ to those around us. With that in mind, Jim is passionate about helping Christ followers connect their faith to their work!