"Do It Again!"

Heb 13:7- 9 “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them.

Here is very thought provoking quote read it slowly...

“A child kicks his legs rhythmically through excess, not absence, of life. Because children have abounding vitality, because they are in spirit fierce and free, therefore they want things repeated and unchanged. They always say, “Do it again”; and the grown-up person does it again until he is nearly dead. For grown-up people are not strong enough to exult in monotony. But perhaps God is strong enough to exult in monotony. It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.” [G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, Chapter 4]

Think about it... this spring we were looking forward to the trees blooming and they did. But it was the same as last year - green leaves - every year green, green, green. But we don’t mind.
There is glorious detail in every flower down to the smallest particle - yet it is the same every year. It is true that we rejoice that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. But sometimes we cringe at the thought that something might be the same this week as it was last week.
There is a certain security in the routine, in sameness. Children can hear the same bedtime story again and again and again. So much so that the parents secretly are tempted to “loose the book” so they can read something else. Children never seem to tire of repetition. They love to do it again. Children love routine - they flourish under routine - schedules. The best teachers are teachers that understand the power and importance of routine and schedules.

Obviously God is perfect and we are not and when we are doing something there is always room for improvement and change
But what is the reason we should be willing to change? Is it because sameness is bad or routine is bad? Is it change for the sake of change. No!

We change because we are open to the fact that there may be a better ways of doing something. We change because we are learning - and learning implies a willingness to change. To change because we think routine and sameness are bad or wrong is to be mistaken. It is the flesh not the spirit that hates routine, discipline.

Golfers practice for hours and hours so they can learn to repeat he same swing time after time. There success depends on the ability to reproduce the same swing every time. They never complain about being bored. Routine is the key to there success.
It may be a mark of our sin nature and immaturity that we get bored with sameness and not the other way around. There is nothing sinful about routine - there is nothing wrong with knowing what comes next.
Do you wonder what heaven will be like? Will it be constant change? Or will there be a perfect , glorious sameness that we will rejoice in for eternity?

“It is possible that God says every morning, “Do it again” to the sun; and every evening, “Do it again” to the moon. It may not be automatic necessity that makes all daisies alike; it may be that God makes every daisy separately, but has never got tired of making them. It may be that He has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our Father is younger than we.”

"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever." When I pray to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Daniel, Isaiah and David, The God of Paul, John, and Peter, the God of Luther, Edwards and Livingston I am praying Father "Do it again... in me."