Jon Allen

Change is inevitable. Now, I don’t know how that statement strikes you. For some it will bring shivers of anxiety and maybe even fear. For some of us more unstable folks, it may elicit a sense of excitement and anticipation for something new.

I sense that more of us are the former and very few are the latter. For most folks change is uncomfortable and unstable. The uncertainty of what looms on the horizon brings concern and consternation. We ask, “What is coming next?” and “Is this going to be a good change or a bad change?” If we could be certain that whatever is coming our way is for our good, the anxiety of change would dissipate if not disappear completely.

Put another way, if change always brought progress, I mean good progress, we would be less likely to loathe it. We still may rear up with uncertainty, but we would come to trust the change more. A good friend of mine said this a few years ago, “Most folks don’t like change, but everybody likes progress.”

One problem is this — we never know if the change will bring what we feel is progression or regression.

We rarely know the outcome of change until it happens. It’s much like a ship drifting on the tide. There is ambiguity and questioning. And there is never a guarantee that things will get better or worse in our estimation.

A second problem with change is distrust of the change agents. As we look at the political, economic, social and even spiritual landscape in which we find ourselves, it is difficult to trust those who are leading change in our culture.

But there is one steady anchor in the midst of an ever-changing world. In early history a man named Abraham pulled up stakes from a very comfortable life to follow this anchor. He left the most civilized part of the world to travel to an undisclosed destination that was accompanied by a big promise. He would not have made this big change unless he trusted in the one asking him to make this change.

God had a plan for him. God had a promise for him, a type of progress for him and his people. Abraham blindly, trustingly followed God in this change. Why would he do that? He gave up so much. The simple answer is that he completely trusted the change agent in this story. He trusted the God that he knew was unchangeable, faithful and truthful.

Abraham trusted God’s promise to bless him and all his descendants if he followed him. And God brought these blessings to fruition.

We read of this promise in Hebrews 6:17-20, “Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath.

“God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where our forerunner, Jesus, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”

We know from the truth of the Bible God’s truthful, faithful, unchangeable nature is a constant in a world of change. We can trust him to direct our lives through life’s biggest challenges and changes.

We must simply trust that Jesus gave us access to a relationship with this unchangeable and trustworthy God.

There is hope and confidence found in the midst of change as we chase after and follow closely this anchor for our lives. As we admit our shortcomings and trust that what Jesus did on the cross and from the grave not only made a way to cling to the faithful anchor that is God but also have the promise of being in his presence for eternity. What an amazing unchangeable truth in an ever-changing world.

(Jon Allen is the associate pastor of Grace Point in Powell.)