“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).
One of the Greek philosophers said, “Nothing is certain in the world except change!” And that was voiced long before the onset of the 20th century when science and technology combined to change our world in ways that previous generations never imagined.
In the past century we saw the transformation of travel with the automobile, the airplane, then eventually space travel. Communications barriers were broken down as the world was shrunk by computer technology and satellite wizardry.
Society changed as well. R.D. Laing put it like this: “We live in a moment of history where change is so speeded up that we begin to see the present only when it is already disappearing.”
One generation has seen World War 2, the onset of space travel, the fall of Communism in 1991, and changes of government which were never thought possible. As the 21st century dawned, we sustained the shock of 9/11, then war in Iraq. Whenever change takes place, it is often disturbing and somewhat unnerving. As creatures of habit, however, when our world begins to change it is often threatening and disturbing, and the older we get the less we like it.
The world is much like Dr. Mannette, the character from Dicken’s novel Tale of Two Cities, who is released from old North Prison. When his routine is broken up by his new freedom and his personal life undergoes changes which are good, his emotional system can’t handle it and he breaks under the strain.
Our churches are not immune from the effect of change, either. Even though it is a well thought-through change which is best for the whole, change is often perceived as a negative thing. Take, for example, the woman who had been a member of St. John’s Church for almost 25 years. When she approached the pastor at the end of the service, it was obvious that she had weighty issues on her mind. “Reverend,” she began, “if God were alive today, He would be shocked at the changes in this church!”
She really did believe that God is alive today; in reality, it was just she that was shocked at the changes which had taken place. As Ted Engstrom wrote, “All change is perceived as loss. Even when the change is an apparent happy occasion, like marriage, or moving to a new job, there remains the lingering feeling that we have left something behind, something which we can never recapture.”
I know that’s the way one of our listeners felt when she wrote to us several years ago. For some time, she had been a member of Brighter Hope Baptist Church, but when the pastor allowed a Bible study to start during the service, instead of preceding it, it was a change that she couldn’t handle.
Change is difficult to accept because we perceive it as a threat to the status quo, and even though it is a good change, we struggle with it. Our daughter gets married to a fine young man, yet the noisy chatter of teenagers and the ringing telephone come to a halt and the emptiness and silence is annoying, reminding us that we didn’t gain a son, as people told us. We think of it as losing a daughter.
There is one truth, friend, which you must never lose sight of. There is one in this world who is unchanging and changeless. His name is Jesus Christ, and Scripture says He “is the same yesterday and today and forever.” That’s very good news in a changing world because it means that there is at least one thing you can count on that will never change. Make Him your anchor and you can better handle change. It is a proven fact.
Resource reading:
Lamentations 3:19-30
