[A ‘Tuesday Challenge‘ originally prepared for the congregation of Horley Baptist Church during October 2025]
What good would it do to change my way of living
If everything inside me stayed the same?
The question was posed by song-writer Barry McGuire in his 1978 song “What Good Would It Do?”; the song was later included in his “Cosmic Cowboy” album. The lyrics ask whether there is any benefit arising from a change of behaviour if that change is only superficial.
The prophet Jeremiah warned against the futility of trying to make changes by our own power:
Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.
Jeremiah 13 v23 [NIVUK]
This week the clocks have changed but the benefits of the extra hour on Sunday morning are soon forgotten as we endure the darker evenings. By and large, we dislike change: changes in laws which have not been properly thought-through, changes to timetables that degrade the level of service, changes in documents that we thought had been finalised. The exceptions, of course, are changes that we initiate ourselves but even then other people often do not see the advantages.
Returning to the original thought, we find a similar sentiment in the letter written by the apostle James:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them?
James 2 v14 [NIVUK]
Are you satisfied with your spiritual status? As our faith grows we should expect to see change because there can be no growth without a degree of change, whether that be gradual or dramatic. Change can be refreshing and exciting but it can also be intimidating and unsettling. As we take those steps into the unknown we are able to ask for help from the one who knows the outcome from the beginning and who himself is not subject to the vagaries of change.
Change and decay in all around I see,
O, thou who changest not, abide with me.
Henry Francis Lyte (1847)
The apostle Paul wrote about change in a more positive way:
Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed.
1 Corinthians 15 v51-52 [ESVUK]
Are you ready to welcome that change?
References:
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Last week’s reflection: Much Encumbered
Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © Steve Humphreys