Give up resisting change and learn to take risks.
Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome estimated that until 1900, information doubled every century. By 1945 it doubled every 25 years. By 1982 it was doubling every 12-13 years. However, IBM estimates that by 2020 information will be doubling every 12 hours. Whether or not that is accurate it does help illustrate how fast what we know is changing.
Some people welcome this change. Others are highly threatened by it all, and they erect walls around their faith with the hope of keeping out change. Which, of course, is impossible if outsiders are welcomed into their lives.
Fear of change prevents discovery, stops progress, and isolates the fearful. The ancient Jews dreaded their future as they were confined in the vise created by the Egyptian army pressing them from behind and the Red Sea flowing in front of them. You can see the effect of their fear as they clamored for a return to the captivity of Egypt.
When are you the most fearful of change?
“Be strong and courageous for you are the one who will lead these people . Do not deviate from [the instructions that Moses gave you], turning either to the right or to the left For the Lord your God is with you. ” Joshua 1:6-9.
“Do not be afraid or discouraged for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” Joshua 1:6-9
“I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?” Isaiah 43:18,19.
Question: What in your possible future are you afraid of? How does that fear affect your discipleship to Christ?
Activity: Write down the greatest fear that holds you back? Form a doable plan for addressing that fear.
Prayer: Our Father in Heaven, you invented courage. You have faced down Satan, done battle with evil forces on earth, and broken down the gates of Hell. We ask you to fill us with courage. May we not allow fear to whisper in our ear to cause us to pull back or roll up in a trembling ball. May your church, especially, storm suffering, loneliness, poverty, and sin, bringing the light of good news wherever it can be taken. In Jesus’ name. Amen