Most of us in the church world are familiar with the phrase: “But we’ve never done it that way before” or some variation of it. I just thought I’d like to point out that people who bank here at the credit union express almost the exact same emotion. I’ll put up a post dedicated to this idea later, but I think it has a lot to do with our seemingly inborn resistance to change.

Here’s a typical conversation between myself and a credit union member: “May I please see your ID ma’am? Well, they’ve never asked for my ID before. I’m sorry, but you are withdrawing a rather large amount of money, wouldn’t you rather me ask for ID than to give your money away to someone I may or may not know? Ok, but they’ve never needed my ID before, and I’ve been banking here for 120 years.”

Many times pastors and churches initiate change for very good reasons. Unfortunately, lots of people don’t see  those good reasons. I was asking for the member’s ID so that her money would be protected. Unfortunately, she couldn’t see past her inconvience. That is exactly what happens when people become dissatisfied with their church because of change, particularly change in the right direction. We all have a hard time getting over inconvience caused by change, even if deep down we know that it will be good for us in the long run.

I guess the point of this post is let’s do more to see past inconvience and see God’s will done for our lives. Even if it means changing. After all, a change will do you good…

P.S. I know why half of Mark Batterson’s Blog is bold. There’s just something about being able to control your reader’s emphasis.