| Change happens to everyone, and it’s happening all the time, all around us. Sometimes I feel the world is changing faster than some people can keep up with it. When I think about the way life was in the United States when I was growing up in the 1940s and ’50s, the changes I have witnessed are mind-boggling. Of course, technology has impacted the world and precipitated changes in ways previous generations could not have imagined. This has resulted in new industries, new ways of communication, and new ways of working. In addition, values and priorities have changed. Social structures have changed, and even nations have changed. There are countries on the map today that didn’t exist even thirty years ago. |
| We change our minds about how we think about things, we go through life transitions, and our friends change. We may have had someone in our life for many years, and for a variety of reasons they are no longer present. They may have died, moved, or simply changed what they are doing, and their time is occupied with that instead of with us. |
| Change is all around us, happening every day, in big and small ways. People’s tastes and expectations change. Our relationships change, our jobs change, our finances change. Our children grow up and leave the nest. Our bodies change as we get older. If we take good care of ourselves, we can slow down the process of aging, but no one looks at eighty the way they did at twenty. I speak from experience. Society changes, styles change, and what people value changes. |
| I’ve experienced quite a few changes in my own life and ministry recently. Our ministry employs several hundred people, and what employees expect now is very different from what they expected thirty-five years ago. Not all those changes have been easy for me, but sometimes we must change, whether we want to or not. For example, working from home is popular today, and computers make it possible for people to work from almost anywhere, at any time. Even though I am more accustomed to an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. workday, I have had to change my mind. |
| We are all products of the era in which we grew up, and we usually like things the way they were. But if we are not willing to change, we will probably get left behind while everyone else moves on. We must remember that just because something was right for 1980 doesn’t mean it is right for 2025 or 2030. I know people who stubbornly cling to “the good ol’ days,” and they are not effective in the present. |
| Even though everything around us shakes and changes, only God never changes (Malachi 3:6). God’s Word doesn’t change (Isaiah 40:8), and it should dictate our standard and style of living. Everyone and everything else is subject to change. Because God always remains the same and His Word is always true and powerful, we can have the courage to change. |
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