Tuesday, December 15, 2015

The Change

     We're all resistant to change.  A friend of mine took a graduate class in ergonomics after which he decided to implement all things he had learned.  His big mistake was the changes he made were in the kitchen.  He used all of his expertise to put the dishes where the dishes should be and the glasses where the glasses should be.  He even rearranged the drawers.  Only problem, that was his wife's domain.  You don't mess with the arrangement of the kitchen especially if the wife set it up the way SHE wanted it.  Needless to say, everything was returned to its initial place regardless of the fact it may have made more sense to put it somewhere else.
     Change is a part of life.  All of us look very different from the way we looked on the day of our birth.  We've changed!  Isn't learning changing?  You learn certain facts and then you learn to apply them.  In problem solving you learn to apply what you have learned to change certain things.  Change not only is a fact of life, we must change to survive.      
     Jesus entered the world and everything changed.  Shepherds couldn't contain themselves, but had to go to Jerusalem once they were told by the angel hosts that the Messiah had been born.  Magi travelled many miles just to see the Holy One of God.  Herod murdered all the little boys of Bethlehem because of his fear of the Christ.  Simeon sees the baby Jesus in the temple and praises God and tells Him that He can now let him die.  The prophetess, Anna, calls the child "the redemption of Israel."  Twelve years later Jesus comes to Jerusalem and is left behind by His parents. They return only to find Him discussing spiritual matters with the teachers.  The Bible says they were amazed at His understanding.  Literally, the Greek language means "to lose one's wits" or "to go out of one's mind."  That's the kind of effect he had on them.  But the one that always gets me is when the chief priests and Pharisees send the temple guard to arrest Jesus.  They come back empty handed.  When questioned, their response is an interesting one.  They reply, "No one ever spoke the way this man does."
     So what does all of this mean?  My point is this.  When you come face to face with Jesus, you are changed.  If your life isn't different because of your relationship with Jesus, then you never really had a relationship with Him at all.  I'll end with this passage from II Corinthians 3:12-18:

Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold.  We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away.  But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read.  It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away.  Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.  But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.  Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.  And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.  

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