For the Better
“They don’t make things like they used to!” Have you ever heard that phrase? Have you ever said it? Remember when bumpers were chrome and not plastic? Remember when Coke bottles were glass, and you had to pop the top? Remember when Blue Bell Ice Cream didn’t have listeria? (Too soon?)
One constant in life is change.
In our lives, God is constantly bringing about change. But, if God is the One doing it, it is always for the better. Look at 1 Peter 1:3-7 and see some of the changes God does and the benefits we receive.
Without question, the biggest and best change God does in our lives is when we experience the redemption available through Jesus Christ.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…” (1 Peter 1:3).
God is so great in mercy that He gives us a “new birth” in Christ.
What a marvelous change! What a vast improvement! He takes our sin-stained heart and replaces it with a heart stamped with the righteousness of Jesus. We are dead in sins and He makes us alive in Christ. Much better! Have you allowed God to do that in your heart?
Another change God promises involves a different future.
“…and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4-5).
God is so grace-filled that He promises us a new future in Christ. What a relief! Did you notice that the new future comes with an eternal guarantee to “never perish, spoil or fade?” Can’t get any better than that!
Finally, God implants in His children a different way of looking at tough times.
“In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory, and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Peter 1:6-7).
God is so amazing that He reshapes us to have a new perspective in Christ. What others see as life-shattering difficulties, God uses to grow our faith and bring Him glory. This new perspective lets us view the reality that our struggles are only “for a little while.” Even if the hardship lasts the rest of my life, that is only a blink when compared to the eternity of heaven. Plus, if through the process of the adversity, it can “result in praise, glory, and honor” to the Lord, even better.
Changes abound around us. Thankfully, the changes that God does are all good.