THE COST OF CHANGE

Week of January 6th, 2014

⁸ I entreat Euodia and I entreat Syntyche to agree in the Lord — (Phil 4:2 ESV).

Some misguided Christian leaders feel they must preserve harmony at any cost, so they do everything possible to avoid and reduce friction. But these leaders need to consider a machine that is shut down has no friction. If the power is turned off, there will be no problem with moving parts. There is also a place in human society where there are no problems—the cemetery. The dead have no difference in opinion. There is no heat generated, because there is no energy and no motion. What then derives from this lack of change are fruitlessness, sterility and non-achievement.

Therefore we can conclude from this lack of motion, that problems are the price of progress, that friction comes from motion, and that a live and expanding church will have a certain quota of difficulties as a result of its life and activity. A Spirit-filled church will invite the anger of the enemy.

In our quest for the “deeper life” we must go beyond where we ended yesterday, last month, last year—to a new place, of living faith that the whole world may see of His glory.

In His service,

Keith L. Bagwell