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If change is hard for you, you’re not alone. Change is hard for most of us. Especially when it touches something close or important to us — a relationship, a favorite place, or a favorite anything really.
I still remember my reaction when I heard that the College World Series would be moving to a brand new stadium. New stadiums are nice and all, but I’d been attending games at Rosenblatt Stadium since I was a little boy. I had decades of memories tied to that place. Others had school and family traditions tied to it. It seemed that Rosenblatt Stadium was the College World Series. How could you possibly have one without the other?
A month or so ago, Starbucks announced that it will stop offering plastic straws with their drinks beginning in 2020. What? Someone’s going to mess with the way I enjoy my favorite drink? Everyone knows that Starbucks has the best straws! My wife and I now joke about hoarding Starbucks straws in preparation for Strawmageddon in 2020. At least, it’s partly a joke.
Change comes — whether we like it or not. And often whether we choose it or choose to avoid it. But the reality is that change is often good. And good for us. Despite my initial misgivings, I have now enjoyed several years of College World Series games at TD Ameritrade Park. And I have to admit, it’s really nice! Much nicer than Rosenblatt ever was. I confess, it’s hard to see now how a paper straw can possibly compare to the plastic that I’m accustomed to (not to mention be an improvement), but based on experience I should at least be open to the possibility.
As followers of Jesus, we, of all people, should be the most open to change. To something new. Even when it touches something important to us. After all, our relationship to God is the result of God having done something new. The Jewish people had their faith and memories and traditions based on what God had been doing and the way He’d been doing it for hundreds of years. And then Jesus showed up and started talking about something new.
This something new seemed to be a real threat. A threat to their faith and understanding of God. A threat to their way of life. A threat to their memories and traditions. And there was a lot more at stake than a baseball stadium or a preferred vehicle for beverage consumption. This was the very fabric of their society. Their entire identity!
And yet we can look back now and see what God has done. In a passage that the people of Jesus’ day would have known well, God spoke to his people through the prophet Isaiah telling them, “I am about to do something new.” This was a big something new. A something new that literally changed the world. For the better. For good.
But it was change. And change is often hard. Yet it was good. And good for us. (That may register as the understatement of the year right there.)
Is there a something new on the horizon for you? A change that you are worried about? A new that you are hesitant about? A something you are avoiding?
In spite of all of your fears and all of your misgivings, something new might be exactly what you need. Exactly what the world needs.
Maybe this fear of change and new somethings is why God gave us the reassurance of Romans 8:28 along with the something new:
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God.”
Did you catch that? He said all things. Even new things. Even change things. For good. And good for us. Trust that. Trust Him. He might just be doing something new.
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