Thought for the Day 17/06/21 - Stand STILL

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Raising children on a farm can be really great ... they have room to run and play and they are exposed to some of the wonders of Creation on a regular basis. They learn can learn resilience, the ability to act on initiative and to take responsibility for animals and people too.

But the very earliest thing we've tried to teach them is the command to 'stand still'.

Farms are also dangerous places and (when outside their fenced off secure safe area around the house) they had to be able to be stopped!

Today I got an online message from a person who works for LinkedIn, American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. 

Here's what it said:

"The world is beginning to see some bright spots in its battle against COVID-19. As a result, many people are thinking of shaking up their careers as restrictions are lifted and economies improve. In fact, experts are predicting a “Great Resignation” due to people wanting to move on and try something new."

At one level, that is understandable.

The normal sort of employment 'churn' at the normal sort of rate may well have been frozen by the impact of pandemic and lockdown, but the sense that things are easing and the return of restlessness - change for change's sake or change for the sake of it as a response to lifted restraint? Surely, that could be unwise and unhelpful?

No doubt the effect of restriction and restraint creates a sense we could 'do with a change'.

And no doubt when a change occurs in one part of life, we can experience a rush of desire to cast caution away and go pedal to the metal for 'the whole hog'.

What ... ALL change?

We see the Apostle Paul tackling the issues this could cause when first century AD pagans came to Christ down in Corinth.

There were new believers there for whom an amazing amount had changed in life when they were set free from all manner of things that had previously characterised their lives when they came into the spiritual freedom found in Christ.

Paul writes to those new believers highlighting that the big change of coming to faith in Christ doesn't mean that they should just push existing social and employment commitments to the wall. He covers existing commitments in engagement, marriage and even commitments to work at their most extreme edge ... the commitments an individual might have in that society in slavery!

“Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.”

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭7:24‬

https://www.bible.com/113/1co.7.24.nivuk

The Point

Paul's point seems to be to avoid knee-jerk reaction as God has got everything in their lives in hand for His people.

Paul is NOT saying that change is a ad thing ... far from that, he is saying change your circumstances when God's Providence and enabling leads you in that direction.

But the fundamental thing these new believers at Corinth need to grasp is that when it comes to the matter of change, we're looking for God's will, not ours to be done, and that resting our lives, futures and decisions in the hand of our Sovereign Protector and Saviour is just part of our new freedom in Christ. 

He is the One Who fundamentally loves His people, and both knows everything and is able to do anything.

So He has a safer pair of hands to trust in than these of our own. Faith - trusting our lives in His hands ... is where the fruit from spiritual life begins to be borne.

The Takeaway

If we're looking for a change because something has changed, that could be GREAT!

But let's be sure that it is HIS change that we're looking for ... because otherwise we could be just leaping into the dark.