Jesus - the Prince of Change?

The only constant in life is change. It’s easy enough to say that that is just the way life goes, but when it touches your life intimately, the black on white statement is not that easy to swallow.

If I look at my own life, I sold everything I had a while back and became a glorified maid on a sail yacht. Everyone thought that I was being very brave, but I knew that God had led me to it, which would have left me with a “what if” for the rest of my life if I hadn't followed.

But things didnt quite work out the way I had planned it and instead of travelling for a year or two, I was back in the country within seven months. With no plans or understand of “what’s next”.

About two years ago, we had to watch how my sister’s husband lost his senior post at a large firm, and with that their stability. It was a long road to changing their thinking, and nights spent in tears and learning child-like trust, but they got through it growing much closer to God.

And now my sister’s daughter is faced with making a career choice and the difficulty of saying goodbye to friends that she’s spent her past 5 years with.... it is a moment of naked truth. There are decisions to be made, that will touch every part of her life. There is a young love that will ultimately suffer from whatever decision is made. And I watch how the weight of these decisions pressed down on her. It hurts, but is part of the reality of this world.

Fifty years ago life just seemed to revolve around constants. For most, children grew up in the same town, the same school and went to study at the same tertiary education facility. You got a good job and at the end of your loyal service, you got a golden watch. People entered marriage and in spite of everything, stayed together... Things weren’t necessarily easier, but from where we stand, it appears less complicated.

And then I wonder, where is God in the midst of all this change? Does He know how tired our spirits become, when our only fellow passengers are new things? Does He see when all we feel like doing is to close our bedroom doors behind us and just hide away from making any decisions in that world outside the door?

And then, without hesitation I think about Jesus. How difficult it should have been for him to literally pak His Spirit in a suitcase one day, leave His Father’s side, pass through the halls and set off on the road to earth. He knew that change was the only way. Instead of being seen as the Son of the Creator of All, He became the son of a carpenter. Instead of being worshipped by angels, He had to help carry the water and sand down the wood and listen the neighbourhood children making fun of his mother. Instead of being surrounded by the goodness and grace of God, He had to face the probing, judging looks of the leaders of the community at the tender age of twelve. How hard must these changes have been for Him.

He didnt have a house to go to, or a bedroom door to draw shut behind him. Entering into His Father’s presence had to happen somewhere on a mountain or on the sea, amidst the voices of the fishermen and the lost. Where He was surrounded by love in his Father’s house, the love was often drowned out by hatred, jealousy and those seeking their own agendas. In His Father’s home, He was the guest of honor, on this earth He was the Rejected one, the Loner.

And then I stop and realise: Jesus knows. He was here. He knows what it feels like not to know where your next meal is coming from, or where you will be sleeping. He knows what it feels like to greet your friends and not have any idea of when, if ever you’ll see them again. He knows what it feels like when you can barely breath and the world just closes in on you. He knows what it feels like that there are no escape from this darkness which seems to drive out all light. He knows, because He’s been there.

But even more so, He understands. And He wants to hold you tight, reassuring you of God’s love for you. Because He has experienced all of the above, we can also call Him the Prince of Change, although He is also the Constant One. In a way, He has experienced more change than we can ever comprehend. And therefor we can know, that no power or angels or things above heaven or below the earth or any change, no matter how radical or challenging, can separate us from the Love of God. The price He paid for us, was just too dear...