The older I get the more I realize that life is about change.
It’s one thing to go through personal change but when the world around you is changing.. it requires a deeper look.
Change requires new mindsets and flexibility. And amidst all of the new thinking, we will need to be OK with not having all the answers. This means this age will really require us to live by faith and not by sight.
After all Hebrews 11:1 tells us:
The very World we live in was framed by what was not seen. Our realities are changing and that means that if we aren’t ok with uncertainty then we could be setting ourselves up for real emotional and mental trauma.
The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. Change begins in our minds. And if you have to be certain in a time of uncertainty it can drive you to feel insane when that certainty does not produce the results you expect. Not only will it make you feel crazy but there’s also a spiritual dimension of delusion and a deception that factors into the equation when things don’t make sense to you. In other words, you can deceive yourself when you’re unwilling to change; and that could be the portion for those who refuse to accept the change before us all.
LIVE IN THE QUESTION
If you feel like you have to have all of the answers, all the time, and you can’t live in the question, then this next decade will be very hard for you.
Real maturity has everything to do with the acceptance of not knowing. There are no easy answers in this time. We live in a complex world and we are complex human beings. Rapid change can negatively affect you mentally, emotionally and physically if you’re stuck in a old mindset. God is doing new things in this earth and we really have no idea what’s going on on a quantum level, because God does not disclose all of that to us. His ways are higher than our ways. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t trust him when we don’t have all the answers.
MOVING FORWARD
It will be important for us over the next decade to learn how to trust God no matter what we see taking place. This will require us staying in communion with God the Holy Spirit, for the months and years ahead. For the last two months, I’ve been ministering to my church members on the need to rest in God. Resting in God requires faith. So even as we move forward we will continue learning how to rest and trust in God, in new ways.
We are learning to live by faith as the scripture reminds us.
THE HUMAN CONDITION
We are all dealing with some form of fear and anxiety about the future whether we realize it or not. The world seems to be in a state of constant flux too and so we must learn to be flexible until we see a leveling out in these areas. This may take years, so we need to slow down, breathe and begin to ask Holy Spirit to give us new coping strategies. Learning to practice a Sabbath Rest is where we are right now.
LOOKING BACK
When we look back at the dawn of the 20th century we see something similar to what we’re experiencing now.
GREAT CHANGE.
And all of that change dictated new trends and trajectories that at the time had many asking a lot of questions. Especially Christians. Many people were leaving the simple life of the countryside to live in the newly developing cities. Entrepreneurship and inventions, occupations and lifestyles were changing drastically.
The industrial revolution took America to a whole new dimension in time. Entrepreneurs like Henry Ford invented the automobile, and we know how much that began to change the pace of the world.
Scientists like Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein were introducing change to us on a quantum level.
And although this change seemed to benefit mankind, was it really progress? Big cities became overcrowded, violence was increasing, people like Edison and Nikolai Tesla were bickering, World War 1 began and left the world depleted. In actuality it was really killing people.
And yet today, we still consider that time in history as progress.
WE DON’T KNOW-WHAT WE DON’T KNOW.
And let’s not leave out the church world. Many believed all of the change was an indication of the end of the final age and was predicting the return of Christ.
I can’t tell you how often I have heard Christians or read Facebook posts touting the same thing-Jesus is coming back at any moment. And yes, the fact is according to the scriptures, that he will return to earth some day, but every age believes it will be during their time. We were told to occupy until he returns and that will be important for all followers of Jesus. We must learn to look on the horizon to where Jesus is and follow him wherever he goes. As leaders in our families and communities we must teach and instruct others to walk the ancient pathways of peace amidst all the trouble chaos and change in this world.
We need to leave behind the escapist mentality and learn to live the cross shaped life.
We must also stop looking at scripture and prophecy as predictive. We must learn to wrestle with Romans 13 and Revelation 13.
Jesus is coming back someday, in some age, for the faithful bride. Our job is to remain faithful.
All of scripture including prophecy is the revealing of Jesus. We need to look at prophetic function with God through the Scriptures as we look back over how God has moved in the earth in different ages if we are to fulfill our purpose in this age. He is the God of ALL AGES.
God is definitely moving in the earth right now in this age, but I’m not predicting the second coming as a result. I believe we have seen the end of one age and we are learning to see the difference in this current age. And as a result we must be flexible and learn to trust God, as it continues to unfold before us if we expect to flourish.
Rest in him beloved. He is faithful.
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