Originally Posted on August 13, 2020
I was recently listening to an episode from Sadie Robertson’s podcast called Whoa That’s Good. In this particular episode she had a guest joining her, the one and only Bob Goff. If you haven’t heard of Bob Goff I highly recommend his books, go check them out! Anyways, in the podcast episode Sadie reminded Bob from a previous episode he was on with her where Bob said that it is horrible advice to tell someone to never change. That hit me hard. I paused the episode and thought for a while about that phrase. Never change. I can remember myself saying this lots of times. I could even remember a specific Instagram post that I made when I was like thirteen and that phrase was my caption.
There were a few different definitions of change that I found. These were the ones I found to be most impactful:
“To make different; alter or modify”
“To undergo a modification of”
Are you ready for this last one? Here it is:
“To put fresh clothes on”
Immediatly after reading that definition my mind went to Ephesians 4:21-24.
“Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God — truly righteous and holy.”
Ephesians 4:21-24
When I look back on the year 2020 five years down the road, I think I’m going to remember it as the year of change. Sure, every year there is some kind of change, but this was the kind of change that was like a category 5 tornado, at least that’s what it felt like to me in some cases. My point is that this was a year with a lot of change. As I began thinking about the year of change, I thought about how I’ve changed. Was I allowing the world’s chaos to change me, or was I allowing God to change me? The way I see it, we all change. We aren’t the same people we were two years ago, two months ago, two days ago, or two hours ago.
So I asked myself, “I’m changing, so who am I changing into? Am I changing into the person that the world wants me to, or am I changing into the person that God wants me to be?” To identify the answer to that question I asked myself more questions. “What am I reflecting in conversations with my family and friends? With the people I agree and don’t agree with? In my social media? In my journaling? How about in my own mind? Am I reflecting Jesus in these areas or am I reflecting the sin of the world?”
Wow did I feel convicted in some of these questions. I thought of the rants, the anger, the fear, the judgement, that I may have expressed either verbally or even in my own mind. I realized I really needed to take this all to God. I needed to ask him to clear and quiet my heart, to fill me with peace and understanding, to speak truth into me, to change me. I asked for forgiveness and to throw away my old self and renew me like Ephesians 4 says to do.
Something else that Bob said in the podcast was, “Don’t be confused by the older version of you – look to the next version of you.” Ya’ll, those are words of wisdom right there. Sometimes, I think it can be so hard for people to move onto the new version of themselves because they are so busy thinking about who they used to be. While who you once were is important, who you are becoming or changing into is greater.
We’re all human. We are going to mess up and God knows that too, yet He chooses to chase after us, pursue us, and show us love anyway. What matters is that we come to God, knowing we’ve messed up, and asking him to forgive and renew us.
I want to encourage you to ask yourself the questions I asked myself. Then take your answers to God. Let him change you. Take off your old clothes and put on something new.
Abundant Joy 