Transition - it's God's idea!!

Transition - it's God's idea!!  
  by Rick Strange
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transition - passage from one state, stage, subject, or place to another; change; a movement, development, or evolution from one form, stage, or style to another.
 
 
This is a weird time for me and my family, a time of great change and new opportunities.  A time of closed doors behind me, yet open ones before me.  A time of the comfortable and known behind me, and the mystery of the unknown in front of me. 
 
What is it about us as humans that makes us want to have all of our ducks in a row?  We don't like change, and we especially don't like the future, and all of the unknowns that come with it.  But as long as we have our comfortable, predictable daily routine to fall back on, we can keep on going on our own merry little way.  And every now and then, when our present is shaken to the point that we must let go of it, we really get anxious about the future, because suddenly it's all we have.
 
Yet all of this is the precise and deliberate work of the Holy Spirit, Who hates complacency and mediocrity in us and will do what He needs to do to move us into greater fruitfulness and excellence.  So to move us forward and stretch us to reach into these new frontiers and the larger place of ministry He has for us, He "shakes us to wake us" (borrowing the words from an old, but still relevant, Steve Camp song).  Listen to the prophet Isaiah: "Sing, O barren, you who have not borne!  Break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you who have not labored with child!  For more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married woman, says the LORD.   Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwellings; do not spare; lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes.  For you shall expand to the right and to the left, and your descendants will inherit the nations, and make the desolate cities inhabited." (Isaiah 54:1-3)
 
Talk about a challenge to leave our unfruitfulness behind and move into a larger arena of greater influence!  Notice the verbs in this text: enlarge, stretch out, lengthen, strengthen, and expand.  Sounds like God is on the move, and we  better go with Him!  As Dutch Sheets puts it, "the faith of Christianity in <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />America is undergoing great change. Mediocrity is no longer acceptable." 
 
And if the prophet Isaiah and Dutch Sheets aren't convincing enough, the words of Jesus should be: "No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; or else the new piece pulls away from the old, and the tear is made worse.  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine bursts the wineskins, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But NEW WINE MUST BE PUT INTO NEW WINESKINS." (Mark 2:21,22, emphasis mine)
 
If we really think about it from God's perspective, our entire life should be one of transition, because He is CONSTANTLY wanting to change us into His image: "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." (II Corinthians 3:18; see also Romans 8:29-30)  Our whole lives should be about shedding our old crusty wineskins of mediocrity and status quo Christianity and putting on new wineskins of vibrant living faith, so we can receive a new outpouring of His Spirit!!
 
And what is God's promise to us as we travel along on this journey of faith with Him?  "But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day." (Proverbs 4:18)  Our future is bright, so what are we stressing about? 
 
The good news is that God understands our stress, and promises to meet us at our point of need, if we will fully surrender ourselves into His care, and put our focus back on Him and where He is taking us, not on where we've been.  Alexander Graham Bell said, "when one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."  So as I leave behind 27 years of work at the same location, I look ahead with great excitement to the new opportunities God has placed before me.
 
As I ponder these things, the words of another Christian song are especially poignant to me.  Steven Curtis Chapman, in his song "The Great Adventure," says this:  "Saddle up your horses, we've got a trail to blaze, in the wild blue yonder of God's amazing grace!  Let's follow our leader into the glorious unknown!  This is life like no other, this is the great adventure!!"
 
Let's trust God in the midst of our transitions, because He knows what He's doing and He knows where He's taking us, and it's a better place than where we've been, but not as good as where He'll take us next!  Lead on, Lord Jesus!!  AMEN!

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