It's Good To Know When It's Time To Change

It’s Good To Know When It’s Time To Change

1/04/2009 Kings, 22:1-20 1 Corinthians 11:27-32

Have you ever had the situation in which your mother told you to stop doing something, but you kept on doing it. Then she told you to stop doing it again, but her voice had changed and you didn’t notice the change, and you wish you had of noticed it. It’s good to know when it’s time to change. It’s good to know when your boss means it when he says if you’re late one more time, you’ll be gone. It’s good to know when somebody means it when he or she says, the next time you do such and such, Now you may have been doing it for a long time, but as far as this person is concerned it’s time for you to change. It’s good for you to know the person means business.

Each hurricane season, there is someone who does not believe this storm is going to be big enough for them to have to leave their home regardless of how many times they are asked to evacuate. They will say in a minute, “I have always stayed right here at home even when others left.” Each year someone goes home to be with the Lord because he or she didn’t know when to change by leaving what they thought was a safe spot.

Have you ever been in a situation in your own life, where you didn’t make a change when you should have, and it has cost you dearly? Sometimes people may have even come up to you and suggested that you change, take a different course of action, let that person go, move out the house, go back to school, but for one reason or another, you decided not to make the change. The only problem is, you know now that you have missed out on an opportunity that could really have made a difference in your life. It’s good to know when it’s time to change.

Sometimes you may be in an argument with another person, and you’re convinced you’ve got all the evidence on your side. The only thing is, your evidence is based on your point of view and what you think another person’s motive is in the situation. If you’re wrong about their true motive, your evidence is worthless. It’s good to know when it’s time to change your position in a disagreement with someone else. It’s amazing how if we ask God to truly allow us to see something from the other person’s perspective, we discover we’re not as right as we thought we were.

Not knowing when to change can cause a lot of pain and heartache that could have been avoided. The good news is that Jesus Christ can still help you to make the changes you need, to get back charge of your life.

Sometimes, we need to make a change, and we do not know it. We can be deceived by all the good things that are going on around us and think that it’s going to last forever. But in reality the world around us is changing, circumstances are changing, and we ourselves are changing. Change is an inevitable part of life. We have to make choices everyday, and the choices we make today are going to affect us for a very long time to come.

Let’s look at a guy by the name of Josiah. Josiah’s dad was anything but a good role model. His father had completed rejected the ways of God. Josiah’s father became king at age 22, and did just about everything he could to alienate God by worshiping idols and offering sacrifices to them. His father reigned as king for only two years, because his own government officials decided enough was enough, and they assassinated him in the palace.

The people rose up and put to death all the officials who had assassinated the king and they made Josiah king in his father’s place. At age 8, Josiah became the 2nd youngest king ever over the nation of Judah. You might ask, what difference could an eight year old make in the life of the nation. Let me tell you a little bit of what was going on at the time he became king. First of all the nation was at peace with its neighbors so times were pretty good. The economy seemed to be doing all right. The people were very relaxed in their relationship to God because there was no pressing emergency.

Many of the people had slipped from God altogether. Throughout the country, people were creating their own gods and offering sacrifices to them. Parents were offering their children as sacrifices to the demonic devil Molech. Anybody who wanted to become a priest could become a priest. In the rooms of the temple of God, There was a room set aside for horses that had been dedicated to the sun and the sun and moon were worshipped as though they were gods.