How to anticipate change

Jesus worked at preparing His disciples to be ready for the massive changes that were coming to His Kingdom. As a man that is experiencing huge changes in my own life, my interest in piqued at a huge new level.

He taught them several specifics (from Luke 9:37-50 that really help me:

1. Beware of memory creep.  It's amazing how memory embellishes, reduces, or changes over time. Jesus told us to carefully hear what he said, and remember it well lest we believe things that are simply not what He taught. Our memory needs to be refreshed with regular doses of the actual word of God, not what we heard about it or think we remember. Our memory is simply not trustworthy enough.

2. Don't worry about the pecking order. Jesus' disciples kept getting into arguments about wh0 would be the greatest. In times of change, it is amazing how much energy I am tempted to use up on worrying if other people like me enough, respect me properly, or think well enough of me. I need to let God worry about those things. 

3. Rethink "us" and "them".  One of the insiders came and told Jesus: "there is a guy over there who is casting out demons in your name. We told him to stop because he wasn't in our group." Jesus rebuked them and told them to believe people were for them until they knew otherwise. Don' be so quick to exclude others from your group, or chase them away.

I am getting ready to stay focused on Jesus no matter how much things change around me...