You can't stay where you are

There is one place that God will never let you stay...and that is the place where you are. Once God touches our life, we can be certain that we will never be the same. He will move us; He will change things; He will shake us up to get us where He wants us to go. For the Christian, there is simply no such thing as status quo.

Change was the hallmark of the early church, but many churches today resist change. Someone has said that the seven last words of the church are: “We’ve never done it that way before.” When God revealed His plan to spread the Gospel to the Gentiles, the Jewish Christians were faced with the need for radical change. Old beliefs and attitudes had to die so that new ones could take their place. The Christians at Jerusalem were content to be a Jews-only brotherhood, but God had other plans. Change was in order.

There is a chorus I have sung with thousands of teenagers over the years on beach retreats. I never get tired of it. It challenges me as much as it does them: “Will you stay where you are, or will you reach for a star? Play the game? Be a fraud? Or die to self and live to God? This could be victory’s hour, claim His grace and claim His power. Will you stay where you are, or reach for a star?”