The Theology of Change

We are constantly changing.  By this time tomorrow our bodies will bid farewell to between 50 and 70 billion cells.  But don't worry.  Our bodies are constantly in the process of reproducing new cells.  This process of change is mostly hidden and painless, but it is constant from the time we are conceived until the day we die.

Change is a necessary part of the cycle of life. Normal growth and health would not be possible without this constant process enabling the old to be replaced by the new.  This is true of the body, mind, and spirit. 

We know a lot about how to support the healthy growth of our bodies, but what about the healthy growth of our spirits.  What do we need to do to grow in faith, hope and love... to become more like Jesus? Paul lays out a pretty rigorous program for exercising our faith so we can grow as disciples:

The gifts (God) gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love. (Ehp 4:11-16)

Change can be painful, but "growth pains" are a necessary part of normal, healthy growth.  The Skit Guys offer one view of how God wants to work in our lives to chisel away the stuff that keeps us from growing "to the measure of the full stature of Christ."