Facing Change and Uncertainty (Part 1)
As of the writing of this devotional, I’m going through a fairly big change in life. Lord willing, over the course of this year, I will be voluntarily stepping away from the role of lead pastor of the church that my wife, Stacy, and I founded with the help of a small plant team over 16 years ago. My hope in the days ahead is to be able to give full-time effort and attention to the vision and mission of Freedom in Christ Ministries.
This means that my family and I are facing quite a bit of change and uncertainty. Obviously, our local church is also facing change and uncertainty, perhaps on a level that we’ve not yet known as a faith community.
I think we can all probably identify with what it’s like to face change and uncertainty in life, especially after the events of this past year. Life is full of transitions that bring about change. And change comes with feelings associated with not knowing what lies ahead for us.
In preparation for the changes that I’m about to experience, I recently listened to an audio book entitled Transitions by William Bridges. He noted that life transitions have three stages: endings, a neutral zone, and new beginnings. As I listened to the book, I was struck by how these three stages are supported by God’s Word. In fact, the gospel of Jesus Christ has all three stages. For example, Jesus’ crucifixion and death was an ending to his earthy life and ministry. His short stay in the tomb was a neutral zone, at least for his disciples, who did not yet understand what must first take place. Finally, his resurrection and Pentecost were a new beginning.
We see these stages in our own Christian spiritual formation. When we put our trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches that we are crucified with Christ—we die with him, become spiritually alive in him, and will one day be physically resurrected like him. Within the context of Romans 6 and other passages like it, we can clearly acknowledge an ending and a new beginning. 2 Corinthians 5:17 reads, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” But there is also a ‘not yet’ reality to our sanctification. In the meantime, we are in a process of becoming more and more who our heavenly Father has already declared us to be. This happens through various stages of character development (2 Corinthians 3:18).
These spiritual truths provide us with the means to face change and uncertainty with faith. Have you ever noticed how Jesus prepared his disciples for the major life transition that they were about to experience as a result of his forthcoming death, resurrection, and ascension? He knew that they were going to face unprecedented change and uncertainty in the days ahead, and so he prepared them to face it with faith.
In what we now refer to as Jesus’ Farewell Discourse, he told his closest friends, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:1-3).
Then he said, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you” (vv. 18-20). He followed that with, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid” (v. 27).
Remember, beliefs precede behaviors. As Dr. Anderson has written, we don’t always live out what we profess to believe, but we will always live out what we actually believe. Jesus knew that his disciples’ lives were about to change drastically. He knew the feelings of uncertainty that they were about to experience. He also knew that an ending is really the beginning of the transformation process (John 16:7), and that God is at work to transform our hearts. A new beginning was coming their way! His encouragement to them was to set their minds on the things of God rather than on the things of man (Mark 8:33).
Friends, I encourage us to do the same. Let’s face change and uncertainty with faith! We couldn’t be in better hands.
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.