Surviving Bad Attitudes-Chapter 11 continued-This Is A Different Day

The hardest thing in life is to accept CHANGE and follow through with it. Look at these analogies with me:
-An athlete has to CHANGE his/her behavior patterns to be fit enough to participate in whatever sport they want to excel in. They must constantly change their training techniques to be able to prepare for the challenges ahead.

-A diabetic has to CHANGE his/her eating habits to be able to be healthy and keep their condition under control. Without constant CHANGE they cannot create any stability whatsoever.

-A pastor has to CHANGE his/her style based on the congregation they are ministering to. Some styles work in certain situations, but not all of them. That's why there has to be some flexibility to make things work the best.

-A business has to make adjustments to their inventory, their manifest, even sometimes to their personnel to continue to be able to compete in the world that we live in today. Without CHANGE bankruptcy is inevitable.

So why does the church resist CHANGE so much? Why is it so hard to get people to accept it and not fight it?

Well, first I believe it's because people use the scriptures I quoted yesterday about God not changing to every application of life. But think about it in realistic terms. God does not CHANGE, but He allows CHANGES to take place in us. If He didn't we would all be like we were 30 or 40 years ago. There would be no gray in our hair, no slouch in our step, or not enough breath to finish a simple task that we did when we are younger. CHANGES take place within us everyday physically, mentally, and emotionally. How many times have you said to yourself, "If I only knew then what I know now..." making reference to the fact that your circumstances would be different today if you could CHANGE decisions you had made previously.

Jesus Himself told us it was wrong to misuse the scripture and that if we did every evil work of the Word would come upon us. However, we don't want to apply it to anything that we like because we are justified in using the Word for our benefit. I will say it this way-it's wrong for a preacher to misuse the Word, it's wrong for a church to misuse the Word, and it's wrong for a Lay-person to misuse the Word. If you stop CHANGE just because you don't agree with it or don't like it and don't have a legitimate scriptural or godly reason, you will answer for it on the great Day of Judgment.

Think about that for awhile. (Continued tomorrow)