Removing roadblocks from our lives means change

By the Rev. Sandra Tonsing, A House of the Living God and member, First Baptist Church of Clarks Grove

Ministry isn’t always easy. Life isn’t easy. We want to reach out and serve God beyond ourselves &045; sometimes. Roadblocks get in our way. Sometimes that roadblock is ourselves. Sometimes the roadblocks are other’s opinions of how we should or shouldn’t be or do.

Removing roadblocks means change.

Maybe it is our stressors that cause our resistance to change.

Whatever motivates us to &8220;cling&8221; to what we might consider absolutes or tradition in our lives is not what God intended. When we cling to &8220;the way it has always been done&8221; we might think we are finding a sense of &8220;security&8221; but in our delusion we lose responsiveness, the ability to flex or follow the flow of the Spirit of God.

Yes God is &8220;the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow,&8221; but what that means as evidenced in all of his creation is &8220;flux.&8221;

The very molecules, atoms, cells – the basic building blocks of life and matter are always in motion. Movement is a basic of God’s &8220;same.&8221;

We’ve instituted change at our house. Reshuffling the rooms the chapel continues in construction (the final stages I hope), and yes other changes are occurring as well. A family member is in the hospital, our children are arriving from around the country to see him, and we are reassured by The Word that in the&160;midst of this &8220;flux&8221; is God.

God and his son are always to be found amidst life, amidst flux, amidst chaos, amidst movement. God is the life force &045; God moves. To resist his movement is to break down, impede his will, and create a roadblock.

It is amidst chaos that he does his best work. The juxtaposition of serenity and peace&160;versus change is found not because it conflicts but because it is intended to prepare us for bigger change that we may better serve him. When we &8220;know that we know&8221; and that it is of God it is certain it involves change.

Look at the change Jesus made. His incarnation brought great change, He brought salvation for all of us. He was a radical. Sometimes it got right down ugly. Sometimes it got right down bloody. But in the end it was right down heavenly, truly divine, and right. He has brought love, peace, and direction for those individuals who are willing to follow him. It is not the absence of chaos in our lives that brings peace, but the knowing we are being used by God.

What does God bring to you in the form of change? What do you wish for that would involve change? With our purpose being &8220;to please God,&8221; are we to resist the leading of his spirit?

To build God’s kingdom is to change. To reach the unchurched or the lapsed or more specifically whomever God wants to reach is change. If my new radio program &8220;Food for the Soul&8221; helps bring that about, then I am in his will.

Jesus told us: &8220;Love each other as I have loved you.&8221; He accepts us as we are, where we are and desires for us to &8220;move&8221; in him, away from our sinful lives, he certainly doesn’t want us to stay where we are.

Jesus loves you and so do I.