One of the most frustrating things in life is playing a game with somebody who likes to change the rules halfway through the game. Just when you had things figured out someone, usually whoever was losing, would adjust the game just enough in order to swing things in their favor. I can remember this happening many times as a child and the outcome ending with an explosion of board game pieces and giving up. We don’t have to look very far to see that our society today has undergone many “rule changes”. It seems like in the past year alone we have been on a steady diet of executive orders and court decisions revising, changing, and adjusting what we thought was right. In witnessing the world around us change there are many who are torn between wanting to lash out in anger or just give up in defeat. What can we hold to as true when truth can be so easily redefined? How are we supposed to live when the standards of society now seem to swing against us? One thing we must always remember is that society may adjust and change but the Lord never does. What this means is that no matter what changes around us Truth never will because Truth is a person, named Jesus, who “is the same yesterday and today and forever!” (Heb. 13:8). So no matter what someone may redefine to be “truth” or adjust to be “right” we need to look no further than God’s Word to know the Way, Truth, and Life.
We don’t just need to look to our government to see that change is something that has become commonplace in our society. If you look to the sports arena, each of our major sports have undergone significant rule changes in the last 5 years alone. Just when you thought you knew the game, instant replays are introduced, new penalties are enforced, and old styles of play are adjusted to better suit athletes today. This month we will be holding our Cross-Centered Basketball Camp for our youngsters so I looked up how the rules of basketball have changed over the years. When the game began in 1891 there were only 13 rules. Today there are over 100. Teams began with 9 players on the court and now they play with 5. With any sport, it is important to keep up with the rules but as we learn these rules and act accordingly there is no guarantee that even these rules will stay the same! This is the society that we are living in and that are children are growing up in; a place where nothing is secure, absolute, or certain.
In Malachi 3:6 God declares, “For I, the Lord, do not change.” How refreshing is that? Someone who doesn’t change! And because God is always the same, we know that His Word will reflect His character. Isaiah tells us that the grass withers and the flowers fade but God’s Word will stand forever. There are no adaptations, revisions, or additions with God or His Word. Society and its rules adjust and change with time, popular opinion, and agenda however the Word of God is just as good for us today as it was for those who first heard it. We can base our lives off of what He says and not have to worry that He will change His mind. Paul encourages us in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 that the Words of Scripture are straight from the mouth of God and they are good to live by. So in the face of so many changes look to the One who doesn’t change. Look to His Word to see what reality is and what our response should be when the rules around us change.
Looking To His Never-Changing Faithfulness, Pastor Rudy