Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the meekness of wisdom. But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth. This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace. (James 3:13–18)
We all acknowledge that the more things change, the more they stay the same. I used to not really understand nor appreciate this maxim, but I do now more than ever. And I will add that change for the sake of change is hardly ever a benefit. And so we wrestle hard and fast against change of nearly any kind. Truthfully, when stores change their layout, I am unhappy and may not return.
I will admit that as a man (a male) I really have a problem with change, but I wasn’t always this way. Maybe it’s a sign of aging as we rage against the inevitable. Or maybe it’s because I am stubborn, selfish, and scared.
The spirit of Christ is not about change — the gospel message is the same today as it has been when the apostle Peter preached on Pentecost day: “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call’ ” (Acts 2:38–39).
One reason why I make this point is because our current culture — much like all cultures before us — want to have it their way, not God’s way. And so, as morality seems to change there is a shift in people’s thinking that God’s will has also changed. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines” (Hebrews 13:8–9).
As a result of being conformed to the image of God’s Son (Romans 8:29) we are no longer to walk like those of the world (Ephesians 4:17). “That, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Ephesians 4:22–24). As followers of Jesus Christ, we’re to think and therefore behave differently. “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you” (John 15:18–19).
But sometimes change is necessary when it comes to expedients, when it comes to things that do not really matter, or a matters of opinion. We want to serve others; and so, as Christians, we are to be about others. “For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).
“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
“Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God” (1 Peter 4:1–2).
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 2:3–5).
What can we do to help others? If we can, then we should.
