Change. An operative word of life as we approach the new millennium.
Sometimes we love it.
Sometimes we tolerate it.
Sometimes it makes us downright angry, or frightens us terribly.

Sometimes we try to plan change; hope and long for change -
I think of New Year's resolutions, where we determine to change the way we behave, or some circumstance in our life. Many such resolutions are broken within the first day or week. And we're back in the rut.

Sometimes we resist change as hard as we can.

Change -
there is inevitable change - like our age, or watching children grow and become independent persons who one day will leave.
There is change that sweeps us along as a part of society -- new forms of communication in our techno driven age, job transfers that necessitate a change in location, shifting productivity demands,
there is change that we can opt in or out of - shifting music tastes, fashion trends.

What's changed in your life over the past year?
Any idea of what may change for you in the next 12 months?

You've probably heard that change is an inevitable part of life today. The only constant, we're told, is change itself.

Well.....perhaps
There are some things that never change.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 1.9 "That which has been is that which will be, and that which has been done is that which will be done. So, there is nothing new under the sun."
And we can think of some obvious things - The sun rises and sets. That's a constant. Tides rise and fall. Seasons come and go.

Then there are the constants in the midst of apparent change. We may have changed over the centuries from cooking over a fire to cooking in a microwave, but there's still the daily routine of getting hungry, finding and preparing food to quell the hunger.

We used to sleep in caves, then wood shacks, and now huge, centrally heated homes. But we still run the cycle of working, getting tired, sleeping, and working again.
We have moved from carving symbols in clay tablets to whipping packets of information across the internet and around the world. But there is still the basic human need to communicate.
Because of what human beings are, and the inner drives we experience, in many ways life tends to have a sameness about it.

That's why they say "History repeats itself." The look may be different, but what goes on underneath, on a basic level, is very much the same. Which is why even though Communism may have fallen, unrest on the world stage is as tense as ever; Cosovo, Middle East, Sudan, Indonesia.
What we have seen before in humanity, we see now. And what we see now, we will see again. New years become old years. Resolutions are made. And made again. And broken. And repeated.

Sometimes all of this becomes disheartening. And leads us to hunger and thirst for the return of Christ. For we remember the prophetic words of Revelation 21.5, "Behold, I am making all things new." Words that speak about the ultimate recreation of all things in the future. One day all that is broken will be repaired, that which is incomplete will be fulfilled, that which is wronged will be righted, that which is painful and ill will be healed.

The Good News of the Bible as we begin another year is that our hoping and longing does not have to go completely unfulfilled. We don't have to trudge into January with cynicism or defeated resignation, a "who cares" attitude which sees everything new being just a recovering or restating of something recycled from somewhere in human history.

We don't have to enter 1999 with a hardened attitude that views changes as tinkering with stuff around the edges, while inside we feel just as frustrated and dissatisfied as ever.

We can enter this year with hope, and with a positive prayer and anticipation of change - real change, holy change.

We enter the year hopefully and positively because of the Good News promise and certainty found in 2 Corinthians 5.17:
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

The change we can anticipate, hope for and welcome is a real meaningful change inside us as persons.
Change in our heart.
Change in our mind.
Change in our spirit.

When we become believers, surrender our lives to the control of Jesus Christ, something begins to happen within us. A renovation project is begun. Christ sends His Holy Spirit to take up residence within us. The Spirit begins to make us into new people from the inside out.

Oh - we can resist this kind of work. The Bible speaks of that as "resisting the Spirit" or "Quenching the Spirit." And then - hey - it's possible to truly stagnate, to fossilize as people in emotional, social and spiritual ways.
But it doesn't have to be like this.

Change, real change IS possible.
It CAN happen.
It DOES happen.
Every day.
In millions of believers all over the world.

REAL change. Not just cosmetic alterations.
Perhaps you know what I mean by that. Car companies, for example, can take a certain model and tinker with it - change the grill, dashboard layout, roof shape. But when you get in and drive it, you quickly realize that it's the same basic car. However, when they change the wheelbase, redesign the suspension, pop in a new engine - then you've got a totally new car. Real automotive change.

Real personal change.
That's the business of the Holy Spirit.

And no matter if we're people who like cosmetic change in the rest of life, or if we're people who feel more comfortable with routine -
this is one form of change that we can all hunger and thirst for.

It's the change that transforms a church from being a cold mausoleum, filled with relics of the past, to a place where peoples' hearts are burdened with the work of God and filled with the life and love of Christ.

It's the change that can turn a home from a place of tension and strife to a place where love and kindness abound.

It's the change that turns a person from bitterness and resentment to a life of abundance and joy.

With change like that the outer circumstances may remain the same, but the perspective changes, the attitude changes, the thoughts and emotions change, the desires change.
And then whether you're in a setting of high tech innovation or retirement quiet, inner city busyness or rural tranquillity, youthful vigour or slowing down some with age -
well, those outer circumstances don't matter quite so much.

Not that they're of NO concern.
I'd love to be able to find great employment for those of you struggling with unemployment, or frustrated with your present position.
I'd like nothing more than to be able to see the pain taken away from those of you with chronic illness.
I'd love to help sort things out with that cranky neighbour.

But it's a matter of where we begin.
Where God begins.
Which is in our heart and soul.
Circumstances may change and we stay as unhappy as ever.

OR

The story is told of a workman who was harassed by his co-workers because he lived a life of strict sobriety, never gambled, and always spoke of the Bible with reverence.
"If you believe in the Bible," they said, "you must believe in impossible things like water turning into wine."
"Ah, I believe in much more than that," he said. His mind went back to the days before his conversion, and the broken life he lived then. He thought about the change Christ had worked in his heart and mind. And he said to his buddies, "I believe in MUCH more than just changing water into wine. I've seen beer turned into furniture, betting slips turned into food. I have seen a woman miserable because she was married to a gambling addict made radiantly and permanently happy because her man was changed before her eyes.
"Yes, I believe in miracles."

When you change inside, the environment around you also begins to change.
 
 

What kind of change are we talking about?
The change of seeing other people from God's point of view, not merely from a human point of view which sees them as objects to be used, or equals who may threaten our advancement, or nuisances who get in our way..... No, God's point of view as unique creatures of infinite worth and spiritual importance, worthy of love and life.
We begin to desire good for those with whom we live, and become more willing to put them ahead of ourselves.
We begin to long for their salvation, and look for ways to share Christ with them.

We change from being people burdened with guilt to being forgiven, freed of the load of sin. We begin to hunger and thirst after living in a way that makes God pleased; that puts a smile on His face rather than a tear in our eye - we long to live this way.

We change from being people happy with status quo, to people who long to see the will of God reflected in our society and who hurt inside when they see injustice and abuses of various sorts occur around them.

That kind of change is beyond any New Year's resolution.
It's beyond any sort of cosmetic fix in job situation, living arrangement, or level of church involvement.
It's beyond the ability of someone else pushing, nagging or prodding us on.

It's change that only the Holy Spirit of Christ can work; change that recreates us through the power of the Father in Heaven - creator of Heaven and Earth.

And for those under the Spirit's control, it's a change process that continues on till the day that Christ either returns or calls them home. Gradually, bit by bit, day after day and year after year, shaping, moulding, remaking us into new, God-like people.

My prayer for my life, the life of each one of you, and for us as a community is that when we gather, Lord willing, on January 1, 2000 that people around us will be saying,
"There's been a change there."

And that the change they see is this kind of change.
Holy change.
Christ-like change.