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We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4:18, ESV).
Benjamin Franklin said, “When you are finished changing, you are finished.”
The concept of change is nothing new if Ben Franklin was writing about the topic 200 years ago, but what is new is the amount of change needed in our world and the speed at which we must change.
Consider the last three years – Zoom©, Woke, TikTok©, gender fluidity, church with TV, correct pronouns, vaccines, and the report in the news of students taking over a university building demanding that everyone get an “A.”
Lots of books have been written on change lately. The best that I have read is John Kotter’s, Change. He writes …
The bigger story is that neither the core of human nature, hardwired into us many thousands of years ago, nor the central design of modern organizations, very much a late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century invention, were built to change quickly, easily, and smartly.
Uh, oh.
When an intellectual giant from Harvard like John Kotter writes about our inability to change effectively, when the need for actual change increases exponentially, and our physical bodies and organizational structures aren’t up for the ever-increasing challenges of change right now …
We are in big trouble.
What can we do? The Bible gives us a reason to hope …
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
I enjoyed reading John Kotter’s book. His examination of the causes of uncertainty and what we can do about it were brilliant. But I admit apprehension in reading his book.
Yes, even with Kotter’s success in business consulting, his many books, and his academic pedigree, he is, after all …
Just a man.
That’s the difficulty with solutions devised by men and women. What ultimately can be achieved by human intelligence investigating the depths of the universe, the intricacies of the mind, and a future that no one knows?
Not much.
Solutions without eternal help will always be suspect.
However, confronting change while knowing that Jesus is the same today and tomorrow and that He ultimately controls the universe, with this hope, we can have peace.
Hope is an anchor to our souls in turbulence, uncertainty, and upheaval. The entire Bible is about hope. God started it all, sustains it all, and will complete it all according to the plan that He had before creation.
Without hope in Jesus, our plans can never bring peace.
What do followers of Jesus do in turbulent times? We research and organize, react according to the leading of the Spirit, and we focus on our mission …
You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth (Acts 1:8).