“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17
This past week the movie company Netflix announced that they will stop their DVD by mail service. Netflix began in 1997. It was a revolutionary idea. People would not have to travel to a store, hope that the movie they wanted to see was available, rent it, and drive home just to watch the movie. With a subscription to Netflix, the movies were delivered right to your home. This new idea changed the way the world watched movies. Before long, stores that rented and sold DVDs began to close. They could not compete with the volume and convenience of Netflix.
Like so many revolutionary ideas, new ideas soon emerged. In 2007, Netflix began streaming their movies directly to homes. You no longer had to wait for the postal service to deliver your DVD. You could watch your movie on demand. Netflix now streams to over 190 countries. The growth of high-speed internet has allowed people to watch movies on demand. In less than two decades the world has moved from VHS to DVD to streaming.
When we experience change, we can react in a few ways. On one hand we can be annoyed that something we are comfortable with is changing. After all, we like the things we are comfortable with, the things we know. Or we can react with curiosity and even joy as we realize that change often brings new and wonderful possibilities. Change opens the door to innovation. Netflix went from a company, dependent on the United States Postal Service, to a company that delivers entertainment to the world in an instant.
Change is not always easy to endure. However, the innovation on the other side of change helps to improve our lives. The success of innovations has to do with our perspective. If we only focus on the change, we will find we are often frustrated, yet if we focus on the possibilities that are on the other side of change, we may experience new excitement as life’s changes bring about personal growth and new horizons.
As a people of faith, we follow a God who is constantly working to do new things in the world. God is often working to make us a new creation. (2 Corinthians 5:17) We were not created to fear change, but to know that God is working, in love, on our behalf. When we learn to trust that there is joy on the other side of change, we can find hope in going forward.
– Rev. Keith King, Pastor of Worship
