Change – The Only Way to Get Better

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die, 
a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a times to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to serach and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, 
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

The late great coach of the Miami Dolphins, Don Shula, would tell his players, “You haven’t learned a thing until take action and use it. Learning is defined as a change in behavior.”

You haven’t learned a thing until you change. You have to take what you know and apply it to make changes to your life. That’s the only way you get better.

Look at that last sentence again – that’s the only way you get better.

What is true for football is ever more true for the Christian life. Following Jesus means changing on a daily basis as we learn more about what it means to be a Christ-follower. Following Jesus means becoming more like Jesus. Following Jesus means we change and transform more to the image of Christ.

Change = Growth

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die, 
a time to plant and a time to uproot, 
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a times to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to serach and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend, 
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Change. There sure is a lot changing all around us. The only things that seems constant is that everything is changing!

Here is the reason why change is so essential to life and particularly to the Christian life.

Think of the best version of who God wants you to be. Really. Take the time to think about the best version of you, that God wants you to be.

Got it?

Is that who you are today? If you said yes, let me know. I would love to meet that person!

God wants us to become that person. Every day, a little closer to the best version of who God wants us to be. But none of us are there yet. Some of us are closer. Some of us are just starting. But none of us are there.

Do you know what that means? God expects you to change. Resisting change is resisting growth, resisting maturity, resisting God.

God is up to something great! There is a season of renewal and growth ahead of the Little Church.

Ready to grow? Be open to the changes God is calling you to.

Change = Life

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a times to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
a time to serach and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

“Why can’t things just stay the way they are? Why does everything need to change all the time?”

Ever felt like that?

It’s quite normal to resist change. We know the present. We are familiar with the present. We just got used to the present. Change…why that’s so different. What’s wrong with the way things are?

Think about who you are today – all the memories, experiences, learnings that make you the you, you are today. Now, get this, you are not the same you, you were a year ago, five years ago, thirty years ago. You know why? You’ve changed!

Think about the Little Church from five years ago. We are not the same church we were five years ago.

The only thing in God’s created world that doesn’t change are dead things. If you are alive, you are constantly changing. Change is not the enemy of the good life. Change is the very definition of what it means to be alive.

There was a time when the Little Church and all her facilities were great for ministry. There was a time when the way we worshiped was great for ministry. These facilities and our ways of worshiping got us where we are today. But in time, the building got old. It started falling apart. We got old.

God is not done with the Little Church. No way. Wasn’t Family Sunday awesome?!?! That was so fun! The fact that God is at work at the Little Church means that Little Church is constantly looking at better and more effective ways of reaching more people with the love of God.

Life is change. Change is life.

And the Little Church is wonderfully alive!