The Discomfort of Change

When I was 12 years old, my family was on a road trip to Virginia. This always meant we were crammed into our van and trying our best to get along for about 6 or 7 hours. We’d play games like find the most states’ license plates, eye spy, and mad libs. We also had a tradition where we would sing songs that were on the radio together. On this particular trip, we were singing, and my brother was giving me dirty looks. The more we sang, the more the disdain showed. Finally, after a few songs had passed, he spoke up and said, “John is singing wrong.” What he heard was me singing an octave below what he was singing. We were singing the same notes, but mine were just lower than his. A week earlier, I was singing in the same register as he was, because my voice hadn’t changed. Fast forward a week, and I sounded like a squeaky teenager who sings in a much lower register. As if I wasn’t awkward enough, my brother just made it even worse. 

Puberty is brutal on kids. New hormones are kicking in, and it’s causing changes that children don’t know how to handle. Suddenly, our bodies are maturing faster than our minds. We become confused. Our emotions are all out of whack. We are becoming young adults whether we like it or not, and we don’t know how to adjust. It’s a change we all go through, and it’s not a voluntary one. It’s one we have to come to grips with and adjust our lives to. It’s hard.

Change can be hard. Whether it’s growing up, moving to a new town, or starting a new job, change is inevitable but can be a difficult adjustment. It isn’t always, but it always can be. When we decide to FOLLOW Christ, we also make the decision to CHANGE. As we talked about yesterday, following Christ comes with a cost. It means following so closely that we begin to experience what Christ experienced, and we are willing to serve Him unto death. In order to follow that closely, change is really the only option. We can’t continue to walk in the way that we were. We have to do something different. So how do we allow Christ to change us?

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
Romans 12:1–2

In order for there to be real change, we have to be willing to give up control. We have to be willing to give God everything. This is NOT easy for most people. Before Christ, we decide what we want to do when we want to do it however we want it done. No one else gets a say. When we decide to follow Christ, we develop a love for our Savior. This love causes a heart-level change. If following Christ is a head change or something we decide to do, then being changed by Christ is a heart change that happens due to where our hearts are directed. It’s only when we allow that change to happen that we can truly be transformed. But what does that change look like?

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:13

When we spend most of our time with Jesus in His Word, we suddenly find that it changes us. Peter and John were fishermen. They weren’t considered smart enough to continue their education with a rabbi, so they became common laborers. People’s minds were blown by the wisdom, power, and knowledge that came from years of learning at the feet of Jesus. Following closely after Christ directly affected their lives in a way that made them into men they could have never been on their own. As disciples, the reason we follow so closely is so that Christ can change us through the Holy Spirit from the inside out. 

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5

Jesus is our spiritual life-giver. He longs to be so connected with us, that we are like branches on a vine. Without the vine, we whither and fade away. Without Christ, it’s the same thing. We spiritually die. Yet, when we are connected with Christ, we flourish. We are nourished by Him through His Holy Spirit and the Word. The more nutrients that a branch takes in, the more fruit it produces. For us, the more we feed on the Word of God, the more fruit we produce.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Galatians 5:22–24

This passage shows the direct result of a heart given over and changed by Christ. We are no longer satisfied by the pursuit of our flesh. Our demeanor is different. Our treatment of others changes. Our hearts are transformed. This is why we call it a heart-level change. It’s almost as if we’re the Grinch, whose heart grew three sizes when he finally experienced love. When we experience the true love that only Christ can show us, everything gets put on the table, and change is the byproduct. 

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:14–19

A disciple as someone who is FOLLOWING Jesus, is BEING CHANGED by Jesus, and is COMMITTED TO THE MISSION of Jesus. Following Christ means stepping in each of His footsteps. Being changed happens when following that closely gives us no other option than to surrender ourselves completely to Him so that He can change us. It’s my prayer that you wave the white flag and allow Christ to take over. Change can be hard. Change can be scary. Change can make you into someone who can be a force for the kingdom of God.