The way things are is not acceptable. We expect change.
The Bible is a fascinating book in highlighting the sense in which the way things are can not be accepted. It also outlines, however, the kind of change to expect. Initially, that kind of change won’t necessarily go down too well for those who believe things are going to get better. The picture it paints – and one that the history in the collection reflects – is one where matters may look better for a while but will turn worse.
Some of the writings to the early church prepare the readers for things to get a whole lot worse before any change of things gets better. Reading these warnings centuries later, some can get the impression that what was written was really with reference to now. With sufficient reflection on modern events, there can almost be a fatalistic sense that there’s little hope of things getting better. Whether its changes in cultural trends or the degree to which man’s inhumanity to man persists only in more sophisticated and less overt ways. Whatever it is people shake their heads and think that things are getting worse and think that things will only get even worse. That’s the only change to expect from that sense.
There is, however, another change that saints come to expect. That is the amazing change that takes place in the life of someone who acknowledges, accepts and turns to the good news of Jesus Christ. That change provokes the individual to see who God is and see themselves and others in the light of who God is. That change means that the individual no longer sees herself as the source of change for things to get better. That change means the individual has an opportunity to take part in seeing God’s Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.
That expression certainly has social, political and economic implications but that is with the expectation of spiritual transformation that will see people experience more of the righteous rule of God in His Son. Those changes mean relationships are aligned to what God has in mind in terms of gracious, merciful, wise and loving interactions.
We expect to see those changes in the community of those who express ongoing belief in Jesus. We expect those changes to be disruptive to those who don’t want their evil arrangements to be ended. We expect those changes to unnerve those who prefer the status quo that we find unacceptable. We expect those changes to register in the spiritual realm where forces of darkness will be keen to neutralise and render the efforts of no effect.
That is what we expect and yet we still expect those changes because of the wonderful gospel of Jesus Christ. We experience the change in our lives as His truth continues to work on us from the inside out. We know these changes are in anticipation of a glorious culmination of all things at the return of Jesus and the inauguration of righteous rule and the unveiling of the new heavens and new earth. This great promise of what will be does not render us inactive in the present, it spurs us on to assertively pursue Kingdom changes wherever and however we can today.
The way things are is not acceptable. We expect change. We expect it …
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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