Change

Read Luke 6:37-42

I have a problem that I have battled my entire life – my weight. Even when I played hockey, I was never the smallest guy around. I don’t know if it was in my genes, or because I didn’t exercise enough (I always have favored reading a book over manual labor!!). All I know is that it is a battle to change.
I read a quote from King Whitney, Jr. that said, “Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better.”
It’s a full-time job trying to get people to change. What a perfect world it would be—if only other people would do what we want! There was a plaque that read, “Change the World—Begin With Yourself!” Not what most of us want to hear!
Jesus told a parable about the problem of not seeing our own faults. He said, “How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me remove the speck that is in your eye,’ when you yourself do not see the plank that is in your own eye? Hypocrite! First remove the plank from your own eye” (Luke 6:42).
Being able to see other people’s faults easily without ever noticing my own is not just an indication of hypocrisy. It can be a wake-up call that the problem in a struggling relationship may be me. Perhaps it’s my attitude that needs to change, or I’m the one who needs to apologize. Maybe I’m the person who needs a humble spirit.
It’s a lesson some of us have to learn over and over. We can’t change others, but with God’s help we can change our own behavior. And when our attitude changes, it may seem as if others have changed as well. The best thing about a change in us is that when God works a change in us He can change others through us.
Ready for a change?

“Change before you have to.”
- Jack Welch