4th October 2023
‘All change!’
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NKJV)
As children, my siblings and I spent a lot of time travelling by rail. My father worked as a guard and was able to procure free travel for his family. Journeys were an adventure: weekends at the seaside, and our annual trip, which was to travel from the southwest of Scotland to the southwest of England. In the 1950’s this journey took 14 hours on five different trains. On arrival at a station where we had to board another train, the guard would blow his whistle and call out ‘All change!’
For my parents it must have been an exhausting process, but for us children it was exciting and fun. Main line stations were noisy and grubby; trains leaving in so many different directions; inaudible tannoy messages, and sometimes weary and irritable staff.
As a family who had made this journey many times, we did not need directions, we knew where we were going and which platform to take. Occasionally, my father would jump off the train to fetch my mother a cup of tea. I would anxiously look out for him in case the train left without him – thankfully he always made it.
In many ways, that 14-hour journey has parallels to the Christian life – the Christian journey is one of constant change: ‘…and [you] have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.’ (Colossians 3:10 NIV)
Instead of the huge hamper of food my mother prepared for the family on the way, we need a ‘hamper’ of faith as we are led by the Holy Spirit: ‘For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.’ (Romans 12:3 KJV).
The joy of seeing my family in the Cotswolds after a year of separation was immense and memorable. However, this does not compare with the joy that was set before Christ and that awaits us: ‘…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.’ (Hebrews 12:2 NIV).
Can we view our Christian lives as an adventure? With God as our guide and compass we will attain our goal of being conformed to the image of Jesus, our Lord and Saviour – especially if we remember to ‘all change!’
Prayer
Loving Father, thank you for our calling, for giving us a new direction in life, one which demands us to change from our old selves to become more and more like our Saviour Jesus. Amen.
Study by Irene Wilson
This study first appeared in Word of Life on 14 June 2022
About the writer:
Irene Wilson was a deaconess in the Watford congregation of Grace Communion International, and served on the Pastoral Council.
Local congregation:
Watford
Knutsford Primary Academy,
Balmoral Road,
Watford, Herts.
WD24 7ER
Meeting Time:
Sunday 11.00 am.
Local congregational contact:
George Henderson
Email: watford@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church