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 May 2008
Week
5/1
Week 5/5
Week 5/11 Week 5/18 Week
5/25
Change We
Can Really Believe In (Part 1 of 5)
“For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for
the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body,
according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all
things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20-21 KJV).
There is a great deal of talk these days about change, and there is
a great deal these days that ought to change. There are things in
this world that ought to change; in the United States that ought to
change; in the state or nation where you live that ought to change;
where you work, in your own home, and possibly in your own life that ought to
change.
Of course, change is not just something we make happen; change
is something that happens with or without our involvement.
Some sociologists have suggested there has been more change in the
past 100 years than in all of previously recorded history. One
thing is certain; our world has changed, is changing, and is doing so
at a very rapid pace!
My grandparents lived from the end of the agricultural age to the
middle of the industrial age. My mother lived from the middle
of the industrial age to the middle of the space age.
My wife and I have already lived from the end of the industrial age,
through the middle of the space age, and well into the information
age.
My grandchildren will live from the information age to…very
possibly…the end of the age.
When I entered grade school in 1951:
1. Few Americans had a television, and those that did needed an antenna
that looked like (and served as) a bird perch by which they got two or
three stations at best.
2. There were no cordless phones or cell phones, but there were lot
of party lines, and that’s not a reference to having fun.
3. Air conditioning in most homes consisted of a window fan, and at
church a funeral home cardboard fan on a paint paddle.
4. Hand-held calculators were a pencil and small paper pad in your
shirt pocket or purse.
5. There was no such things as an Internet, no computers, no I-pods.
6. No one had ever heard of CD players, DVDs or digital camaras, and
it took about a week to get your printed black and white photographs
back from the drug store.
7. Automatic starters for automobiles were when you trusted your kid
enough to let them run out and start the car.
8. UPS had not yet expanded into coast-to-coast package delivery;
there was no priority mail, we had the mail but no email.
9. The average price of a gallon of gasoline was 26 cents; milk 75
cents; a dozen eggs 23 cents; a pound of hamburger 53 cents, and
hamburger helper was flour and milk.
A lot has changed…I’ve changed a great deal…mentally, spiritually
and physically. You too have changed and are yet changing.
Continued 5/5.
ddf
Change We
Can Really Believe In (Part 2 of 5)
Change can be for the
good. Changing bad habits and embracing goodness...changing from
living in rebellion and alienation from the Creator by entering a
new life through Christ is good…very good. In fact, if we ever
expect to reach our highest potential, we will need to change in
many ways.
The most important change that any person can ever experience is the
inner change that takes place when we pass from death unto life
through the new birth.
“And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become
like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven”
(Matthew 18:13 NIV).
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God”
(John 3:3 KJV).
There is a literal and permanent change that takes place in the life
of every person who experiences genuine Christian conversion and is
born again. When even the most disjointed, disordered and
disappointing life if touched by Jesus Christ, there is a change
that takes place that is like no other change, and it is a change
that you can really believe in!
The Touch of the Master's Hand
"Twas battered and scared, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
"What am I bidden, good folks," he cried,
"Who'll start bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar - now who'll make it two _
Two dollars, and who'll make it three?
"Three dollars once, three dollars twice,
Going for three". . . but no!
From the room far back a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody, pure and sweet,
As sweet as an angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: "What am I bidden for the old violin?"
And he held it up with the bow;
"A thousand dollars - and who'll make it two?
Two thousand - and who'll make it three?
Three thousand once, three thousand twice
And going - and gone," said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
"We do not quite understand -
What changed its worth?" The man replied:
"The touch of the masters hand."
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and torn with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd.
Much like the old violin.
A "mess of pottage," a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on,
He's going once, and going twice -
He's going - and almost gone!
But the MASTER comes, and the foolish crowd,
Never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul, and the change that's wrought
By the touch of the MASTER'S hand. ~Myra B. Welch
“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of
the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even
as by the Spirit of the Lord” (II Corinthians 3:18 KJV).
This is change that you can really believe in!
Continued 5/12. ddf
Change We
Can Really Believe In (Part 3 of 5)
But there is also a
disturbing kind of change, an unsettling kind that brings with it
loss and uncertainty.
• We once had robust health, but that all changed with the result of
a routine medical test.
• Dear friends no longer speak to us because some misunderstanding
changed our relationship.
• A family was torn apart by divorce, and everything changed.
• We once had enough money to go around, but ill fortune or a bad
decision changed it all.
• At one time we were young, beautiful, desirable and cool, but the
inexorable march of time has changed us. We do not like our pictures
to be taken, not because they do not look like us, but because they
do.
• We hold many wonderful memories from the past...memories of a
secret place in childhood, of good times, of good things, but the
secret places have been lost, the memories have faded, the ones with
whom we shared so much good are now gone and we cannot recall their
faces.
The story is told of a young bride distressed because her husband’s
aged and feeble mother was to live with them. The mother seeking to
make herself useful in some way insisted on washing dishes following
an evening of entertaining important guests. Because of her
feebleness she broke several pieces of her daughter-in-law’s best
china. The young wife scolded her mother-in-law telling her that she
was to never again wash any of her dishes, then demanded that her
husband purchase a new and complete set of china. Days later he
presented his wife with two new sets, and she scolded him for being
wasteful since she only needed to replace one set. When she demanded
that he explain why he had purchased two, he quietly replied, “The
second set if for you, when you too are old and feeble.”
Often change comes suddenly and without warning….our lives are never
the same. We cannot go back. We cannot change what has been changed.
Consequently, we know:
1. The pain of separation.
2. Tears of sorrow.
3. The agony of death…and the fear of our own which is approaching.
4. The depths of depression and mourning.
5. The weight of crying when crying does not help except to exhaust
us physically.
6. The power of physical pain to control us.
7. The futility of things the way they are and cannot be made
better.
But there is a change coming…a change we can really believe in!
Continued 5/18. ddf
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