Faithfulness, Grace, and Growth

Jesus Christ may be “the same yesterday today and forever” (Heb. 13:8), but that requires us to keep changing and growing rather than holding tight to our unchanging past. Human souls, churches, and the world have a long way to go to catch up with Christ. Perhaps this is why Jesus says that those who are “trained” in the ways of God’s rule are able to “bring out . . . what is new and what is old” in themselves and the world at large.

Healthy human psyches and groups maintain a good balance between the need to conserve and the impulse to change. Too much change too fast can unsettle and unbalance us in matters both great and small. On a long trip, while enjoying exquisite Italian food in Rome, I suddenly found myself making a beeline to a McDonald’s restaurant for three consecutive meals in one day. The new and different was suddenly too much. I needed familiar American fare. Social systems experiencing too much change eventually face resistance and backlash. Conversely, holding on to the security of the familiar can blind us to what needs to change in family, social, or religious life.

Make no mistake: The grace of God in Christ is out to change us, to expose and heal the ways we resist goodness, to challenge the ways our hearts are closed to compassion, and to upend the injustices we take for granted. The Jesus of the Gospels is far from meek and mild. While he affirms the best in the Judaism of his day, he forthrightly challenges the parts of ritual law he sees as barriers to love and justice. His keen eye sees both the potential in those he loves and the baggage they must give up to grow to full stature. Creative change, rooted in the good practices of the past, honors both old and new.