Keep the Change

"Change we can believe in." "Change the world." "Change your shorts."

Well, lately I've been thinking about this concept of change. It seems like change on a small level is so trendy nowadays (i.e. fashion and technology). I mean, who doesn't want the newest video game system, flat-screen TV and spiffy outfit? Why settle for plain old tennis shoes when you can have the pair that glow in the dark? Those old light-up soles are so mid-nineties anyway.

Change on a large scale can become a different thing altogether. Think of climate change. Now whether or not you believe it is human-caused or not, the objective fact is that the earth has been warming up ever so slightly. But the shocking thing for everybody seems to be the fact that we can't seem to control it (although many people seem to think we have caused it). This aggravates people; because what fun is change, after all, if you can't control it? We can control small changes like fashion, technology and the like, and make ourselves look good. But when it comes to climate change, or even change in the weather, our lack of control hurts our ego. Therefore, we look for ways to control it. Buy some carbon footprints. Drive a hybrid. Seed the clouds to coax some rain out.

The point is, we humans like to think that we're in ultimate control of our lives, but we keep running into the fact that we aren't. What then? If we accept this, the question becomes who, then, is in control? I believe that person to be God, who himself does not change (James 1:17). He is constant; everything he is, he is eternally. Nothing that happens; no change, big or small, takes him by surprise.

In this world of change, it's good to know that there is someone consistent who is really in control of things. That ought to make us thankful; it ought to make us humble.

Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. (Ps. 90:12)