Taking It Deeper With Change

I’m back from the dead. Exam death that is. Now time to bury it behind me and pray for the lecturers to mark under the spirit of generosity. But before I do the digging, let me share something I liked while studying for my last paper.

The issue at hand was transformation and the point that interested me was that “Transformation needs to focus on relationships because without transforming relationships there’s unlikely to be much transformation at all” Bryant Myers. The subject was dealing with transformation of the poor and their communities, but I found the statement relevant to any change we anticipate to see in our lives. This statement goes back to show how important relationships are to our existence. The blog post ‘Beings-in-fellowship’ further explores this concept.

My first thoughts were that if I want to see change in my life I must have the right people in my life.  I must walk away from people who use and abuse me, and keep only the people who build and truly appreciate me. This is true, but my understanding of relationships this way is one dimensional and I probably wont experience the far-reaching change I anticipate. There are three other dimensions of relation which need change if I’m to see satisfactory change in my life. These three dimensions are intricately linked.

A relationship with God is the most important relationship. Anyone who has come to a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ can tell you that their lives were changed drastically by the decision. Because you just can’t come to God and remain the same; all the Bible characters have that in common. What we tend to forget though is that at any point of our lives, post our first coming, if we want to see change, we need to keep coming and to come closer. We’re bound to see change in our lives when we prioritize our relationship with God, when we spend more time praying, reading, hearing and reflecting on His Word.

When we want to see change in our lives, we must be in a good relationship with ourselves. Christians usually avoid encouraging people to focus on themselves out of fear of the development of self-centredness and selfishness. My observation is that where there’s a living relationship with God it’s possible to have a healthy relationship with self. Until we change the way in which we view ourselves resulting in loving ourselves and taking care of ourselves, we have little chances of seeing change in our lives. I’ve personally seen much change in my body ever since I started being intentional about taking care of it. Feeling better physically has meant change in other areas of my life because I am more productive and effective in my work.

Then comes relating with others. Here I want to move away from the close relationships with those we love, to the relationship we have with those different from us. Galatians 6:9 encourages us not to tire to do good to all people. Yes it goes on to say especially those who belong to the family of believers, but we have a duty to do good to ALL. The verse promises that there is a reward for doing good, a time to harvest. It goes without saying that my life will change for the better when I start reaping the fruit of all the seeds of good I had sown in other’s lives.

Lastly, is a relationship with the environment. Please don’t stop reading, I’m not about to talk about global warming. We have a relationship with the environment in the sense that we are dependent on it for food, water and air. Being dependent on it, obviously means we need to treat it right as stewards of creation. God did give Adam the garden to take care of after all. We’ll see change when we make efforts to take better care of the environment.

Alright, thought lesson over. I hope your view of change has been changed and that you'll be changing things as a result. Thanks for reading! 😉