Five Minute Friday: Change

It's Friday, which means it's time for Five Minute Friday. This week the word is "change."



Do you embrace change? Or do you fight against it?

Or maybe you find yourself somewhere in the middle of those extremes? You don't excitedly seek after change, but you don't run form it either.

Whatever the case, the one thing we can be sure of in life is that we will have to deal with change. Change in our lives because of things we do. Change in circumstance because of choices we made. Change in our lives because of things others do. Changes in circumstance because of choices others made. Sometimes we choose the change and sometimes we don't.

The one thing we can be sure of is that change in evitable. And as followers of Christ, change is something that happens constantly in our lives - or, it should be.

When we choose to follow Christ, we being a process of transformation - of change. And that process of change in a lifelong process. We're constantly being changed to become more and more like Christ.

When we stop to look back over the years, we can see evidence of this change. And evidence of how we responded to it. We can see the times we embraced the change and we can see the times where we fought against it. But the important thing is that we give glory to God for the ways He has changed us.

We're All Called to Something

What is a calling? Do you have one? Do we all have one? Or is it only for specific people?

Sometimes I wonder if we overuse the word calling in Christian circles, and it loses some of its importance in the process. Other times I wonder if we elevate it to too high a status and lose some of the importance of what God asks us to do as we serve Him in our everyday life.

I just finished reading a book that made me think more about this. Kelly Minter ends her book Wherever the River Runs with the following words:

“I think our tendency is to believe that God is inviting someone else into the ministry of reconciliation, tapping someone a little more gifted or holy than us for the work. . . . But the reality is that God has called every one of His children to the poor, the outcast, those on the fringes of society, the spiritually hungry. Hardly ever do we feel ready, comfortable with the task, confident in our goodness, or have any idea where the river might run, but – such a sobering reminder – He has called us still.” (emphasis mine).

The last sentence really resonated with me. I think we often struggle with the idea of calling because we don’t feel ready or comfortable or confident. But, God still calls us to serve and to love the world. How we each do that looks different, but it all comes from the same call.

We call it the Great Commandment: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39). Elsewhere in His teaching, Jesus calls us to love our enemies as well (Luke 6:27-36 & 10:25-37).

When God sends us to “the poor, the outcast, those on the fringes of society, the spiritually hungry,” He is sending us to live out what we call the Great Commandment. It’s the way we are called to live as followers of Christ. We may not feel qualified or ready to do it in the specific way God gives us to do it, but He asks us to anyway and depend on Him to do it.

When I look at it this way, I start to see the calling God has on my life, on your life, on the life of everyone who claims to follow Him. We are called to love our neighbours and our enemies. It’s not a calling specific to a few “elite” in Christian circles. It’s a calling for all Christians – whatever we spend our time doing.

We do all have a calling. And it is important. That calling is to love – sacrificially, with an attitude of service to those we meet and interact with. It’s a high calling, and it’s worth it.

What We're Really Looking For

“We may desire deep friendships, ironclad marriages, thriving children, a secure economy, healthy bodies, a trip to Europe – but what we really want is an encounter with the living God. To be loved known, and seen by Him. We pursue all the other stuff because it’s the stuff that tastes, but Jesus is the One who nourishes.” (Kelly Minter, Wherever the River Runs)

 

Since I first read those words, they’ve been running through my head. Specifically, the short sentence in the middle: “To be loved, known, and seen by Him.” Those words ring true in my life, and in the lives of many people I talk to.

 

We purse all sorts of things in life, as we seek to fill our deepest longings and desires. And ultimately we find that nothing satisfies them for long, if at all.

 

Friends, family, vacations, money, possessions . . . they make us feel happy in the short term. And most of the time, they can be good things in our lives. There’s nothing inherently wrong with any of them. How we use them may be a problem, but that doesn’t make the thing itself a bad thing.

 

The problem is when those things no longer satisfy, when they no longer make us happy, we’re left looking for more. And that is when we can turn to the wrong things, or things that were good to begin with can become a problem.

 

When you get to the core of what we’re looking for – what  we desire – it comes down to wanting to be known, loved, and seen. We want to be known for who we really are – the part of us that we often keep locked deep inside for fear of how other people will see us. We can to be really loved – unconditionally, sacrificially, deeply. We don’t want to go through life feeling invisible – we want our presence to be noticed, to be missed.

 

We seek to find all of these things in so many places that don’t satisfy, when what we really need to do is seek to meet with God. The one place we can be really known, loved, and seen is when we enter into relationship with Jesus. He is the only One who can satisfy those needs.

 

The psalmist put it this way, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” (Psalm 34:8). The psalmist knew and had experienced that God was what would satisfy and he calls us to try.

 

What are you seeking to satisfy your desires?

 

Is what you’re seeking truly satisfying your desires?

 

Have you allowed Jesus to meet you and be the One who knows you, loves you, and sees you?