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Constant Change
By Israel Wayne
My one and a half year old daughter recently achieved a
deeper level of “self-awareness.” No, she hasn’t been
watching Shirley McLain or practicing her yoga techniques.
This radical entry into greater realms of “conscious
self-knowingness” will doubtless serve as an axis on which
much of her future life will pivot.
With a furrowed brow and a wrinkled nose, she recently
tugged on her mother’s skirt, pointed repeatedly toward her
diaper and uttered a word which neither her mother, nor I,
had ever systematically taught her. With pleading and
desperate eyes she begged, “Change!”
My wife and I also had a moment of illumination as it dawned
on us in a new and enlightened way that our daughter was
more in tune with life than we had previously thought.
“Admitting that you have a problem is the first step to
getting help,” declared my wife as she doled out sympathetic
and therapeutic consolations to our newly aware daughter.
And within minutes, “Mama’s Quick Lube,” home of the
two-minute diaper change, had taken care of the problem.
This desire for change in the life of my daughter has
recalled to my mind one of the great oxymorons in our human
experience: the constancy of change. In pre-Socratic
philosophy, the 6th century thinker, Heraclitus, made the
following statement: “The only thing that is permanent in
the universe is change.” He made the claim that you cannot
step into the same river twice. If you put your left foot in
the river, by the time you take it out (and shake it all
about), the river has performed the hocus-pocus and moved
on. So the river you place your right foot is, is not,
technically speaking, the same river.
It seems the only thing we can be certain of in this life,
is that life will change. I know of a family that had
relocated twenty-one times in twenty years. There is no
certainty in the economy, our employment status or our
health. It appears that only change is inevitable.
The nature of God, on the other hand, is quite different
from the earth in which we live. He is constant and
immutable. His dealings with people may vary in time/space
history, but He is unmoved by any force outside of Himself.
There is nothing more powerful than God. James 1:17 declares
that with our Father, there is neither variableness, nor
shadow of turning. God is so unlike us. God never changes
because He doesn’t need to. He is perfect and entire,
lacking nothing. This should be our goal also (see James
1:4).
The dilemma of change is endemic to our postmodern pop
culture. Author Ken Myers asserts that pop culture is based
on a principle of “planned obsolescence.” In other words,
consumerism is built on the concept that we should never be
satisfied with what we have. We always need, bigger, faster,
better, more expensive and more, well…hip.
In the realm of theology, however, we find the antithesis of
this notion. When we study the Scriptures we find an
interesting paradox. We are taught that we should be
content; yet still desire change. This is not, of course a
contradiction. In logic, the Law of Non-Contradiction states
that, “Two opposing statements cannot both be true at the
same time and in the same way.” The reason this is a paradox
(a true statement that appears to be false or contradictory)
is because the Bible is referring to two different issues.
First of all, in terms of material things (the stuff of
earth), we are told repeatedly to be content with what we
have. We should stop desiring and demanding more. In
Philippians 4:11-13, the Apostle Paul says, in regard to
wealth, “I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith
to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how
to abound: everywhere and in all things I am instructed both
to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer
need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth
me.”
Yet, this same writer, a chapter earlier admonishes us in
regard to spiritual maturity, “Not as though I had already
attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after,
if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended
of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have
apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those
things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those
things which are before, I press toward the mark for the
prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” (Phil
3:12-14)
Isn’t this the opposite of how we often live? We are so
content with our spiritual life. We think we are doing
pretty well overall. We live more moral lives than our
neighbors, we go to church, and we don’t cheat old ladies
out of their life-savings. We tend to rest on our haunches,
pat ourselves on the back and stay the same as we have been.
We resist spiritual growth and maturity, which requires
change.
In regard to material wealth, however, we act like starved
maniacs, chomping at the bit for a slightly larger slice of
the proverbial pie. We are ravenous in our pursuit of, “just
a little bit more.” What a stench this must leave in our
Savior’s nostrils.
"So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I
will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, ‘I am rich,
and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,’ and you
do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and
blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by
fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that
you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your
nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your
eyes so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and
discipline; therefore be zealous and repent." (Rev
3:16-19 NASU)
If only we ourselves could see, as God does, we would
realize how we are wallowing in the filthy lucre of this
world. Our obsession with more, and our willingness to
wallow in spiritual complacency have left us in a truly
miserable condition. If only we could grasp how much better
it feels to be clean; to be willing to be changed, so that
we can grow to maturity as spiritual adults, and not be
dwarfed, spiritual infants our whole lives. We need the eye
salve of the Holy Spirit to illumine to us how nice it is to
have the filth of the world removed from our lives. May we,
with childlike simplicity and trust, furrow our brow,
wrinkle our nose, and plead to our Heavenly Father,
“Change!”
Israel Wayne was home educated and currently serves as
Marketing Director for the national publication Home School
Digest. He is the author of the book, Homeschooling From A
Biblical Worldview, published by Wisdom’s Gate, and site
editor for
www.ChristianWorldview.net Israel and his wife Brook
(also a homeschool graduate) and reside in Michigan with
their five young children. Write to: Wisdom’s Gate, P.O. Box
374, Covert, MI 49043. 1-800-343-1943,
www.WisdomsGate.org
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