Wayne Weekly “Winds of Change”

This past week-end I enjoyed a long term summer breeze. Like perhaps many of you I left my bedroom window open all night and woke several times to experience rushes of significant breezes blowing my curtains gracefully away from the window sill. I had flashbacks of sleeping under the stars as a kid and feeling a burst of tepid air flow over my face.

The wind is an incredible part of creation. It can have devastating effects when it becomes a part of a hurricane, or transforms into a “funnel of fear”. The wind on the Sea of Galilee could turn an uneventful journey into a life threatening nightmare like situation as mighty waves pound a boat…and all in just a few moments of time. On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit’s coming sounded like the noise of a “violent rushing wind”. Winds can turn a picnic into a panic.

But wind also can brings about freshness, brings about a welcome coolness on a hot evening, and can bring a clean fragrance into the air. It can be the platform for successful kite flying, wind sailing, or power a sailboat gliding across a shimmering lake. Wind can power an electric windmill turbine and can wave a flag.

When Jesus had His conversation with Nicodemus about the new birth, He likened the Holy Spirit and His work to a wind that you can hear, but can’t see (implied), but the effects of wind are clearly evidenced.  God’s Spirit produces in us a new life. We change our direction, our minds are being transformed as we grow and become more like the Savior. The old cliché, “winds of change” can run deeper in meaning than we often think.

As a Christian, God’s Word reminds that we are “a new creation in Christ”, it tells us that “all things have become new”. The ability to be transformed by God’s Spirit is ours, the renewing of our minds brings about transformation.

The next time you experience a pleasing, gentle breeze this summer, be reminded of “God’s winds of change”, and then ask God to encompass you with His transforming power as you walk in obedience to Him.

“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”                John 3:8