Change

Change is often unwelcome. When computers replaced typewriters and longstanding accounting equipment, grumbling filled many an office. Some employees threatened to quit if management insisted they use a computer. Others lamented they were too old to learn a new system. But computers proved their worth and now you don’t hear anyone clamoring for the return of the typewriter.

I like to rearrange my office occasionally for no reason other than to introduce a change to my small world of work. I find the new arrangement is no better than the old, but at least I haven’t stagnated.

We hear political candidates call for change. “Vote for me, and I will bring change to Washington,” one candidate promises. Another alleges, “I will change the way Congress does business.” And one political party is branding itself “the party of change.” However, we are left to wonder what kind of change the political hopefuls have in mind. The change I introduce to my office is inconsequential to the kind of change they might bring to Washington and to us. If I have $5 in my billfold when I move my office desk and computer hutch, I still have $5 when I complete the task. But I have a hunch my $5 would shrink dramatically if the politicians of change have their way.

The right kind of change can be good, of course. The Bible promises to change the life of anyone who believes on Christ as Savior. Second Corinthians 5:17 declares that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” But there’s more! Constant change characterizes the productive Christian life. We mature spiritually as the Holy Spirit changes us into the image of Christ “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18).

The United States cannot be a theocracy, but it can truly be “one nation under God.” If we believe it is drifting away from this distinctive, we may be able to change its direction (1) by praying (2 Tim. 2:1–3), (2) by sharing the gospel faithfully (Acts 1:8), and (3) by leading a winsome, godly life (Prov. 14:34; Phil. 2:14, 15).


Now, for a change—if all of us Christians vote according to biblical convictions . . .