Daily Encouragement Net
“Encourage one another daily” (Hebrews 3:13).
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“DEALING WITH LIFE’S TRANSITIONS”
Rev. Jim Gambini
By placing our faith in Christ, we are transformed. Now we must go through the transition. At times the transition may be very unpleasant and even hard but the reality is that we can make it through the transition if we are willing.
Abram heard God at home one day. He told Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Gen 12:1-3).
In other words, God told Abram, “Pack up all your family and all your gear and move. Don’t worry about where. Just start moving your feet. I’ll lead you. And I’m going to bless you, too, beyond your wildest imagination and, in so doing, bless everyone else in the whole world.” Some years later God told Abram (who, at the age of 99 had no children) that he was going to be the father of many nations.
Genesis 15:6 tells us that “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” At the moment Abram said, “I’m in, God. Let ‘er rip.” Abram was transformed. To demonstrate the change in Abram, God changed Abram’s name (“high father” or “exalted father”) to Abraham (“father of many” or “father of a multitude”).
While Abram was transformed, he still had to undergo the transition. He had to leave everything he had ever known to journey through the desert. It wasn’t until he came to the land of Canaan that Abraham discovered he was “home.” Talk about transition! Abraham learned to trust God. Although sometimes he failed (you can read his story in Genesis 12-23) Abraham let God take him through the process. Abraham made the transition.
We, in our Christian lives, have to go through those transitions, too. We have to give up everything in this world with which we’ve grown comfortable including our expectations of this world. We have to go through the desert in order to take our place in the land of Canaan that God has promised us. We’re not told that God let Abraham know where he was going. God just told Abraham he would take him there… wherever “there” was.
God has told us where “there” is. It’s paradise. It’s heaven. It’s glory. He’s even given us descriptions of what it’s like – no more tears or sorrow. No more sin or corruption of any kind. All is light. And we get to see Jesus face to face. (Abraham didn’t have that much to go on.) We have God’s solid, sure word that He will take us through the transition. Christians are those who have trusted God for the transformation and are giving up everything for the transition. It applies to both our corporate life as the Church and to our individual lives as Christians.
The early Church had transitions that it had to go through. Consider Acts 13. Here are Paul and Barnabas, two of the most influential and powerful teachers the Church had. Paul was, in a sense, a trophy for the Church. The man experienced incredible transformation when he came to faith in Jesus Christ. Now, Paul and Barnabas were heading off to who-knows-where.
Oh no! Where are they ever going to find people to replace Paul and Barnabas? Guess what, Paul and Barnabas had to go. In order for God to continue the transformation process, the Church in Antioch had to go through a transition. God wasn’t just transforming the Church, he was transforming the world! And in that process, the transition the Church of Antioch went through grew the Church itself. Thanks to the Church going through that transition, we, today, have a huge portion of our New Testament Scriptures that came through the apostle Paul. Praise God for the transition!
We have the benefit of hindsight in the Church’s transition back then. But we can’t look back on the transition we’re going through now. We have to look at any and all the transitions we’re going through presently through the eyes of faith. We must trust that what we’re going through –whether it’s personal, family or congregationally – is something God is using to work out his purpose. We need to trust that, regardless of what it may look or feel like right now, God’s loving hand is at work.
How do we do that? How do we intentionally give ourselves to the transition? Practically, what can we do to follow through on Jesus’ instructions to “give up everything” if we’re going to be one of his disciples? Certainly we can read the Scriptures and follow what they have to say. There is much there that God has told us, much in the way of instruction and example to show us what the transition should look like. But I want to suggest a starting point, three very specific things we can do – personally and corporately. It’s found in 1 Thessalonians 5: Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thes 5:16-18).
I’d like to suggest that, if there is anything that will help us through any transition, anything that will demonstrate the transformation God has brought to our lives, anything that we can do that proves God is worthy and loving and trustworthy, these three things are at least major factors. I suggest, here in the last line quoted, that it read "Will you join with me, join with each other, to make 2005 a year in which we seek to be joyful always, to pray without ceasing and to give thanks in all circumstances?"
After all, if there is anything of God’s purpose and will about which we can be sure, we can be sure of these three.
1) I want to challenge you to “be joyful always.” I would suggest that you begin by asking the Lord to show you what being joyful looks like in your life. Being joyful doesn’t mean we walk around in a euphoric cloud. Being joyful has to do with knowing who we are and what we have in Christ.
2) I challenge you to grow in prayer this year. I challenged you to make it a goal that, by the end of 2005, you would be spending an hour a day in private prayer and at least one day a week meeting with other Christians specifically to pray together. The chief goal, however, is not just to have spent a certain amount of hours in prayer but to spend every waking moment in prayer.
3) Finally, I want to challenge you to “give thanks in all circumstances.” Again, begin this by asking God what this looks like in your life. It may not mean what you might think it means. But if you will commit to what Jesus says we need to do as his disciples, God will lead you, show you what this means for you, and help you make the transition.
The Church exists to help people experience the transforming power of Jesus Christ. The transformation Christ brings to our lives also brings us to points of transition throughout our lives. If we will give ourselves to the transitions, regardless of what we think it may cost us, God will be glorified in us and through us.
(Jim Gambini is the former pastor of the Mount Pleasant Brethren in Christ Church located near Mount Joy, Pennsylvania. This message is adapted from the sermon he preached Sunday, 1/9/05)