"Adapt to Change"

Heads up! The days are coming when I'll set up a new plan for dealing with Israel and Judah. I'll throw out the old plan I set up with their ancestors when I led them by the hand out of Egypt. They didn't keep their part of the bargain, so I looked away and let it go. This new plan I'm making with Israel isn't going to be written on paper, isn't going to be chiseled in stone; this time I'm writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts. I'll be their God, they'll be my people. They won't go to school to learn about me, or buy a book called God in Five Easy Lessons. They'll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great. They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean. By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust. (Hebrews 8:6-13 The Message).

Today’s reading is from a version that I rarely use, though I do read sometimes for a different perspective. It speaks of the “new” plan of God to deal with the people of Israel. I think it has a very important truth for us as well. Somehow we get accustomed to doing things the same way in church and feel that anything different from that must not be good. It is difficult to adapt to change, especially in the church. However, even God understands the importance of change. Sometimes it means that the old plan simply is not best for that moment. At other times it means that the old plan just needs to “shelved” in favor of a better one.

Church music can be that way. Don’t get me wrong, just because it’s new does not make it better. I love the old hymns. They have a wonderful way of communicating theology in a way that choruses often don’t. But, I don’t want to chase that rabbit today. What I am addressing is the need to change when change is necessary. There are so many churches that fail to grow beyond the 300 barrier in membership simply because the structure they are using prevents their growth. The last verse of our reading in the Phillips paraphrase says: "When a thing grows weak and out of date, it is obviously soon going to disappear. That's true of churches, too. If a church cannot change, it will eventually die."

Certainly that’s a paraphrase, but it conveys the central truth well in reflecting Israel’s practices. They refused to let go of their beliefs about what the Messiah should do and be that they failed to recognize Him when He walked the earth! This same principle applies to many areas of life. No, we don't want to make changes where change is not to our advantage, but there are times when we do need to make changes. When it comes to communicating the gospel, while the message itself never changes, our way and means of communicating it have to change in order to communicate effectively to the particular group we are addressing. One size doesn't fit all! Whether it is in our professional or personal life, let's be open to and willing to change where change is both essential and necessary. We can adapt in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit!