“Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever.” “I am the Lord, I do not change.”
In this world, change is inevitable. I can think back over my life and see so many changes that it almost makes my head spin. We have a difficult time dealing with change. I have been going through one of these difficult times about my grandchildren. They have grown up on me, all four of them. My two oldest grandchildren have grown up and moved away. My two youngest are now teenagers. I wail and moan: “I miss my little boys and my little girl.” lol? The problem is that time goes on and things change. If we can do anything about an unpleasant change, we should, but most of the time all that we can do is accept change and go on. It might prove to be bad or it might prove to be good, but we just have to accept what we cannot change. I began my ministry in 1960 when I was 21 years old, fresh out of the Navy. I was called to my first pastorate in 1960. Let me tell you that I really got weary of people calling me “our young little preacher.” I longed for the day that they would stop it. Well, I looked in the mirror this morning and realized that I got my wish. That change occurred. No one has called me a “young little preacher” in a long, long time. I’m sure that they have called me many other things, but not “young little preacher.” Here is where real hope comes in. Hebrews 13:8 tells us that “Jesus Christ is the same today, yesterday and forever.” Malachi 3:6 quotes God saying, “I am the Lord, I do not change.” While it seems that change and decay are all around us, we have the reality of the unchanging God. He is aware of all of the changes that take place in our lives and he invites us to come to Him in His unchangeableness and find the comfort and joy that we can find only in Him. When we get up in the morning, we don’t have to worry about whether God has changed overnight. He is where He has always been and is who He has always been. (Stop reading here and praise Him.) With our human limitations, we can’t always depend on each other. Don’t misunderstand me, there are dependable people in my life and yours, but human limitations dictate that no one can satisfy all of our dependability. Only God, in His infinite wisdom can do that. No one else is all-knowing, all-powerful and ever-present. That’s part of what faith is all about. When it’s not going right here, we know that it’s going right with God, and that He is aware of our situations. The unchanging, eternal God will either get us over or through the situation, but He will act. We can depend on Him to be God! We can always know that, in His holiness, God will always hate sin. He knows how sin ruins our lives. He will always judge sin. That is just an unchanging Biblical fact. However, we also know that He is the God of unchanging Grace and that He will always love us. Even our sins will not stop Him from loving us. He will discipline us, but that is only because of His unchanging love for us. Nothing can change the fact that because of the sinful condition of the world, He sent His Son to live among us and to die for us in order for us to be forgiven for our sins. We can know that if we go to Him in true sorrow for our sins and in true repentance, He will forgive us. 1 John 1:9 tells us that Jesus is “faithful and just” to forgive our sins. That will never change. Everything else around us might change, but His forgiveness will never change. It is my hope and prayer that you will put your hope and trust in the unchanging God. He loves you and wants the best for you, but you need to return His love and want the best for yourself. Rejoice that the unchanging God is real and that He loves you. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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