Embracing Change in Christ

It’s officially one month since we popped the champagne, toasted 2021 and wrote down a list of resolutions. This is usually the time when we start to take a good, hard look in the mirror to assess what we have done — or have not done — with the first month of this brand-new year.

New years can be scary, can’t they? Full of promise, sure, but also full of room for failure. Full of space for our old baggage, old fears and the continuation of old mistakes.

The same can be said of Christ, and the new life he offers us, if we are brave enough to accept it. Opportunities like that can be intimidating. In that moment, we might find ourselves like the man with the unclean spirit crying out: “What have you to do with me, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?”

Jesus is a comforter of the afflicted; he is a consoling figure, but he is also a challenging one. Sometimes we have grown attached to our afflictions. The idea of correcting bad habits or forming new ones is frankly terrifying to us. We have a voice deep inside who sees Christ and his invitation to repentance, and it cries out in fear: “I know who you are!”

When we live in the present, disavowing the baggage of the past or fear of the future, we submit ourselves to the promise of redemption. Let us be brave everyday stewards and invite Christ’s healing power into our lives. We won’t regret it — I’m sure the demoniac never did.

— Tracy Earl Welliver, MTS