by Linzy Slayden
Washington Irving, who wrote Rip Van Winkle, once said that change means “to shift one’s position and be bruised in a new place.” That may explain why he kept Rip sleeping for 20 years — so the rapid changes in America would not bruise the old Dutchman too much. After all, Rip went to sleep a loyal subject of King George III and awakened a citizen of the United States of America, with George Washington as his president. Talk about change!
All of us want progress, especially if it benefits us in some way; but few want change, in spite of the obvious fact that you cannot have progress without change. Life is something like the two or three hands on the old watches. The hour hand moves slowly, the minute hand moves more rapidly, and the second hand with great speed; but it required all three to know the time. Now in this digital age, some of you will have to just imagine!
Some changes in life are more painful than others. In fact, social scientists are telling us that change has changed. Many changes in our lives are no longer quiet and gradual, with time for us to understand the events and process them into our lives. No, these changes come with such force and speed that, as we try to shift position, we get bruised! When that happens we revolt against all change and say, “Why can’t things just stay the way they were?”
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that the good old days weren’t always that good. As a student of history, I have read enough to know that every older generation has condemned the younger generation and bemoaned the fact that the world is going to fall apart. I agree with the statement, “Wise is the person who learns from the past, but foolish is the person who lives in the past.”
Solomon said it best, “Say not thou, What is cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.” (Ecclesiastes 7:10).
Change is really nothing new. In fact, all of life depends on change. God has established creation that there is order in change and change in the midst of order.
Of course, change for the sake of change is novelty.
True change motivated by the Holy Spirit is what we need today. The local church should not be a museum where we all get together and pay our respects to dead history. Our BBFI churches should be alive with the preaching of the Word and the soul-changing, life-changing power of the Holy Spirit!
I celebrate the great history of the BBFI but I am not living in the past … I am looking forward to the future!
Will 2012 bring some challenges? Yes, but we serve a sovereign God Who will give us the wisdom we need and is well able to show Himself strong on our behalf.