A Sign of Maturity

Let me begin by saying that I am neither a Trump nor Clinton supporter. I am using Mr. Trump here as an example, so please do not go saying “Pastor Orville is a Trump supporter.” OK, ‘nuff said.

When Mr. Trump began his campaign for president, he talked about a mass deportation of folks not here in the United States legally. Then a few weeks ago he espoused a more moderate position, it seems, saying “there is no amnesty, but we work with them.” (www.cnn.com/2016/08/24/politics/donald-trump-immigration-deportations-citizenship/). Of course, some folks claim he was flip-flopping his position for votes and such. Maybe… maybe not…

I have long maintained that a sign of maturity is for a person to be able to examine a belief, a theory, a position on an issue, and when confronted with new information or better thinking, be able to change their mind about that belief, theory, or position. I do not believe this is flip-flopping, I believe it is growth. As we all mature, we must be willing to adjust our thinking on many things.

This is such a Biblical concept that we even have a word for it: repentance. In its most basic definition, repentance means “to change your mind.” Now the Bible (and thus in church) we often use this word to refer to repentance from sin. I change my mind about my behavior, from my viewpoint to God’s viewpoint. I repent of that sin.

There are even times in Scripture when God changes His mind about something. Not in the sense He was wrong, but in the sense that He decided to do something different than originally planned. The greatest story I think of this is Jonah. Jonah is sent to Nineveh to tell the Assyrians “Yet 40 days and Nineveh will be overthrown (Jonah 3:4).” And guess what? The very next verse says “The Ninevites believed God.” And so they fasted and repented, and verse 10 tells us, “When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.” He changed His mind, because they repented of their sin, and thus He extended mercy.

Does this make God a flip-flopper? Hardly – in fact inherent in sending a prophet to them is the possibility that they could repent and thus God could relent of judging them. Why else warn them?

As we grow in our relationship with the Lord Jesus, as we study the Scriptures, we need to keep two very important things in tension: conviction about the truth, and the possibility that new information, more study, or the enlightening power of the Holy Spirit may cause us to change our minds about some things. That is not flip-flopping, that is a sign of maturity.