Innovation is a key part of life. When we don’t innovate, when we don’t shift (change), we will lose out on growth. God, our Creator is an innovator. He’s often doing something new (Isaiah 43:19). Many brands in our world know the secret to innovation- to shifting. Converse Shoe Company was born in 1908. My father wore and still wears All Stars and I wear them too. How has Converse still managed to stay relevant and desirable 109 years after its birth? They understand that the product will always stay the same, but the method has to constantly innovate in order to stay relevant throughout the ages.

When we look at the church age, how the church looked 2,000 years ago is different to how it looked 100 years ago, 50 years ago and so on. Many churches don’t grow because the leadership is trying to run its operations the way that it had been run in the past. When churches don’t innovate they suffer, and the communities around them don’t receive the nourishment they could get from a thriving and impacting church.

To Russia

Looking to history, I want to turn our focus to a former Russian monarch who failed to innovate the system he was in, and it’s one of the factors as to why he and his family lost their lives in 1918. His name is Nikolay Aleksandrovich Romanov and he is known as Tsar Nicholas II. Nicholas II was a deeply religious man. He could often be found in the chapels of his palaces engaged in hours of prayer to God.

You can be spiritual and love God, like Nicholas II, but lose power and lose your life for not heeding wisdom. Why did Nicholas II and his whole family lose their lives? Because he failed to innovate the system he was in, and he failed to let God shift him.

Now, the factors of his death are multifaceted and complex. But, I truly believe when one is walking with God and is also malleable in heart and mind that is when they allow God to shift them. Why? So that God can effectively guide them to make changes in their life when necessary.

Though Nicholas II was spiritual, he was prideful. Nicholas II was only in line with how Russia had always done things. He wanted to rule as an absolute monarch, which meant that the concerns of his people, who were quickly falling into poverty, were ignored. He wouldn’t listen to people who tried to advise him to shift Russia from absolutism to a parliamentary democracy; the way other European nations had done.

It is possible to be spiritual and ignore the Holy Spirit to guide and innovate you for your own growth. When we fail to innovate we in some way or another suffer.

King David

Looking at King David, do you recall when David organized the picking up and returning the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem from its Philistine captors (2 Samuel 6)? While the Ark was enroute, one of its carriers was Uzzah, the son of Abinadab. Uzzah reached out to catch the Ark that was falling. When Uzzah did that God killed him. God got mad at David for allowing Uzzah (a heathen) to carry the Ark in the first place. Uzzah didn’t have the authority to carry this holy vessel that housed the presence of God. God knew that He was going to elevate David from King of Judah to King of all of Israel in a matter of weeks, and He needed David to get his act together.

David failed to innovate. Before God could put him in a leadership position, God had to first chastise him, as he was going to soon be elevated. David was a man after God’s own heart; his heart was malleable and because of this God could correct/ shift and innovate him without David’s pride getting in the way. Nicholas II, with all his spirituality and praying didn’t allow God to correct/ shift/ and innovate him. His pride got in the way and it was his downfall.

You can be spiritual but not allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate your heart and innovate you. You can be spiritual and pray everyday, but lose sight of God trying to shift you. It was time in Russia’s history to innovate- “behold something new” was starting to take place in the country in 1917. There were political, structural, and government changes coming and Nicholas II failed to innovate with the times. When we fail to get on board, shift (change), and innovate we will pay and suffer in some way. Let’s be Spirit-guided innovators.

Happy Friday!