Midnight Musings: Why Do We Change?

Have you ever wondered why we change or why everything in this world is subject to change? Have you ever thought whether change is something inherent to the world from the very beginning and if it is so, when will it ever end? If we keep on changing, what then is the destination or finality or ultimate goal for man to become or to achieve?

At this point, I cannot say that I have fathomed all the facets or even scratched the surface of this topic. I cannot say that I have understood all that needs to be understood. But I do have a starting point and I know some people would probably disagree with me but my thoughts are simple and direct.

People change, the world changes, and we continue to do so until we die and the earth rots to its core. Originally, if you believe in the Creation of the world, God made man in His likeness and clothed him with His glory. We were in the image of God and like Him, man was perfect.

But God also gave man freewill or the ability to choose his path in life - it was God's gift to man and essentially it is evident throughout our lives that we have to make decisions. Sometimes people make decisions for us but ultimately, it is our choice whether to passively submit to their decision or to fight for our own. So as it is, man also has a choice whether to obey and trust God or to lead his own life without God.

I believe the story of the fall of man is well known to many people and that was when Adam, the first man, disobeyed God's command to not eat the fruit coming from the Tree of Knowledge. Because of that, sin entered into the world, death pervaded the land, and everything slowly began to decay and fade away.

Man became separated from God because of sin and became blemished. From that point on, everything changed and everything began to change.

Based on that, I believe that man changes because we have lost our connection with God. When man fell to sin, he became blemished and imperfect.

We do have however, an idea of perfection and God gave us that idea by showing us which is wrong and which is right. So we constantly change, trying to achieve the standards of God but the thing is, man failed to reach God's standards because it is too high.

But man is not hopeless because God in His loving mercy and grace gave us Jesus Christ to pay the high price of sin and fulfill the standards of the law so that we might become the righteousness of God through Jesus.

Jesus lived a sinless life and He showed us the example of a life that is pleasing before God, a life of victory and righteousness. He shared His life to all; He dwelt among the common men and He called them to become His followers. He showed how it is to love and sacrificed Himself so that we may live through Him.

He died but He rose again. He rose so that we might have our hope in Him. He is alive today and He gives meaning and fullness to our faith and to the gospel. Until now, God is at work in the lives of many people through the Holy Spirit and it is by His grace through Jesus that we are saved.

We might be broken and simply living our lives defeated, tired, and weary but Jesus gives rest and salvation. The Holy Spirit enables us to change from our ways.

We are constantly changing. Naturally, we do change due to our sinful nature, we long for satisfaction and fullness of God in our lives but by our own devices, we cannot achieve that. But through the work of Jesus, through our faith in Him, we will find the satisfaction that our souls have been longing for all this time.

He will fill our cup and bring peace to our hearts. And it is the Holy Spirit whose business is to change people's lives so that we can live the abundant life Jesus has promised us.

Once we receive Christ, we are changed and transformed by the Holy Spirit in Jesus' likeness. As we submit our will to His, we become Christlike in the process.

Why do we change? Because we are imperfect. But God changes us so that when the time comes, we will be perfected.