The Difficulty of Change

“Change for some people is difficult to accept. Change is dif­ficult because change means doing something new, something unusual, something not done before. It usually means ex­changing old habit patterns for new ones. Such change is a threat. They are afraid of the unknown, and therefore unwill­ing to launch out into new adventures. But to a Christian, change should be thrilling rather than threatening. The Chris­tian life is an adventure into God's newness. Newness need not make the Christian feel insecure because the future is new only in that he has not yet experienced it; it is not unknown to God. Christ is the pioneer of the Christian's faith. He is its author and finisher. He knows all about our lives. Christ him­self has experienced the worst this life has to offer, all that death holds, and now stands victorious on the other side of both in eternal glory. So for the Christian the providence of God is a vital reality. The Savior has blazed a trail before him.

A Christian sins if he becomes a static sedentary person who fears positive biblical change and frantically clings to the past, either in his personality growth, in his life decisions, or in his manner of living. To resist sanctifying change is to resist and grieve the Holy Spirit. The scriptural doctrine of sanctifi­cation necessarily involves growth in holiness. Christians must change in order to become more like Christ. Growth means changing into the fullness of the stature of Christ. In principle it is true that believers have been declared perfect in Christ, but now they must grow more like Christ in practice. New truths discovered in the study of the Scriptures must become new practices woven into the fabric of one's daily life. Funda­mentally, then, pastoral counseling is helping Christians to be­come sanctified. Counseling involves helping people to put off old patterns which grew out of rebellion toward God, and helping them to put on new practices which grow out of obe­dience to God. This is the shepherd's challenge, opportunity and duty.”

[Jay Adams, Competent to Counsel, pp. 76-77]