Shake the dust off of your past and Change!

Change… 

There are so many definitions of the word change, that to put them all down here would take up a full page.   Change can be a noun, a verb, and it has so many synonyms that again, an entire page could be filled.

Ever wonder why change can be so incredibly difficult?  Why when you set your mind to change something about yourself, your life or your surroundings that you are met with an almost immediate resistance.

Change is the thing we dread but also one of the things we can be sure of.  Not all change is positive, and those changes seem to come to us easily, but when change needs to take place to improve something, then it seems to be easier to walk on water than it is to change.

We all desire to change, in one extent or another, and we all fight with the change that we are not asking for, but are still receiving.  

There are times in our lives where the desire to change is so strong in our spirits but hasn’t burst forth into our visible lives, that we are actually in pain.  We are stuck in the in-between phase, which can be extremely painful and a long process.

We all want change to happen quickly, and to be painless, but the chances of us receiving either of those things is slim to none.  God will often use our circumstances to change us, which means we are going to be moving at His pace, not ours. 

We will have to come to an understanding, within ourselves, that we can’t make what is happening change or go away, but what we can do is allow God to make the changes in us, that has caused the circumstances to be so painful. 

We can allow and accept that though change is imminent it doesn’t have to destroy you. 

In Matthew 13:55-56, we see how Jesus was not allowed to change, and be who He was created to be.  We see that because of His family ties and upbringing people kept Him chained to where He is from; instead of Whose He is.

Is not this the carpenter’s Son?  Is not His mother called Mary? And are not His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? (56) And do not all His sisters live here among us?  Where then did this Man get all this?

When Jesus traveled back to His own country, of Nazareth, people were in awe and confused about how a simple Man, a carpenter’s Son, could have the knowledge that He did.  This change in Him had caused a ruckus and amazement among the people of His hometown.

Jesus wasn’t able to be who He was created to be in His hometown, because they already had established who He was destined to be, by His family.  He wasn’t allowed to change or evolve into whom He was called and created to be. 

We face this everyday, but in a smaller way than Jesus did, as we try to accept or bring forth change in our own lives.  Most times when we are on the brink of change we must leave behind what, and who we knew, to catapult us into the new life waiting for us.  The life that will come after the change has occurred.

We must make the decision to change and then walk the steps out of the change, no matter how painful or confusing they may be.

I don’t know anyone who has made a significant change in their lives, and were able to do so while remaining in the same space they had been in.   You can’t straddle a fence for too long, before a side must be made.

As we see here Jesus, was trying to pick a side, which was the side of God, and His people were not allowing it to happen.  They had kept Him fenced in on their side of the understanding.  They tried to keep Him from making the transition.

I have found from my own experiences, and from watching those around me, that taking the first step of change is sometimes harder than the actual change.  We have to abandon the life that we had lived in, whether this life was good for us or not, it is what we know. 

We have to turn our head towards a road that is painful, long, and sometimes lonely, but the walk must be made.  

Many times the people, just like in Jesus’ life, will hold us back and not allow us to change.  I find that this is due to their own insecurities in being left behind.  They are happy and comfortable living in the space of another person’s faults and misdoings, and it satisfies them to know that they are not alone.

This is like the alcoholic who desperately wants to be clean and sober but all of his friends, associates and social gatherings are tied into alcohol.   His friends will continue to pull him into this lifestyle.  They do this, because if they don’t hold him back and release him to change, then what are they?

They are left to then wonder and consider their own lifestyle, and again, this is not a comfortable place to be in.

Jesus saw first-hand how He was not going to be allowed to change from the image and identity that they had of Him, to the one, that He actually was, so what did Jesus do? 

He changed… anyway!

Jesus didn’t allow the people around Him, the people confused, concerned and maybe shamed, to hold Him back from who He was called to be, and neither should we!

Change is painful, and not everyone is going to be giving you high fives along your journey, but the one thing we do know, is that the harder you resist the change the more painful and difficult it will be for you.  This also gives you more of an opportunity to stay in the same form that you are currently in.

We are all called to change and evolve.  Our bodies change, our brains change and our relationships change.    As hard as you may try to stay still, life will constantly be flashing around you, so you have to either move willingly with it or be life will force you to move.   

Jesus used to tell the disciples when they leaving a into a town that was not welcoming, or that was full of evil, to exit the town and while doing so to shake the dust off of their feet. 

There is a reason why they were instructed to do something so small to us, and something we have created to be a catch phrase, more so then an lifestyle.  Jesus commanded them to shake the dust and dirt off their feet, so that they would not carry the problems from the past, or that town, into their future. 

They were not weighed down by the negativity from that area, and were free to start a new.  We have the same option!  If we don’t like our lives or something in our lives, we too can shake the dust and dirt off of our feet, and take a fresh step.

Jesus experienced change every day, as will we, and it is up to us to continue to carry the dust, problems, friends and feelings from the person we are into the new life, and the new person we want to be!

We too can shake the dust and dirt off of our lives, and step into a new, fresh, clean, changed life!