One of the hardest things for people to deal with is change. I used to hate change, now I welcome it, that is, most of the time. Many people hate change. They love routine and tradition. Routine and tradition are not all bad. They can be good disciplines and remembrances. They also can be ditches that we get stuck in. Someone has described the definition of insanity as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. People can be deceived easily by programs that produce a little burst of energy but leave no long lasting result. Fads and even entire movements can be built on this.
It is interesting how people will get on these kicks and defend these
things to the hilt. If a person criticizes them, they are seen as negative. I am
very careful about not mentioning names as much as possible. I am for anything
that truly helps people. I realize the old expression applies to: don’t throw out the baby with the bath water. In other words, some people may receive benefit from a program.
So maybe all of us should just go back to the Bible for our answers. Here
is a scripture that verifies that: Mark 7:13 “making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you
do.”
But I just don’t believe that! Who care about what you believe or what I
believe. What does the Word of God say? Everyone has right to their opinion, but
not everyone’s opinion is right. Jesus said, that is the way the truth and the
life; and that no what to get to God except through him. That breaks a lot of
people’s tradition. It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you have
faith in something. That was not what Jesus said. He broke religious tradition.
The Pharisees, the religious leaders, of his day, added hundred of rules to the commandments. We do the same thing today. We add things and say you must do this or that to be a Christian. The default position of mankind is to follow
his own way, a way that seems right, but a highway to nowhere. Jesus said you
shall know the truth and it would be the truth that would set us free. I think
sometimes, we just use our minds only or just casually observe something and
make a doctrine (a truth) out of it in our mind.
This is where false doctrines. If many people began to believe the same thing, even though it’s not sound Biblically, then you have a stronghold. Then someone must come along and speak the truth. That person isn’t always welcomed by the masses because it shakes our traditions; our status quo.
I did things in my life for many years over and over, and they didn’t work. When I stood on the Word of God and realized I had a lot of religious traditions in me things begin to change. It was like the more the religious things went, the more truth prevailed in my life. You can’t possess both, there isn’t room.
So my challenge is to you. Ask yourself is what I believe based on the Word of God. Even though you have always done it this way, is this way right? Is it getting you the Biblical results that you want? I will leave you with this truth from God’s Word. Romans 8:6: “For to be carnally minded (which means of the five senses-naturally minded) is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.”
SOMETIMES, CHANGE CAN BE GOOD!