Thought for Today
1 Samuel 15:29 Moreover the Glory of Israel will not recant or change his mind; for he is not a mortal, that he should change his mind."
Psalm 110:4 The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, "You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek."
Matthew 18:3 "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 21:32 For John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes believed him; and even after you saw it, you did not change your minds and believe him.
I’ve already used the word change 40 times this year in these Thoughts. I wrote about change yesterday; and, once again today, change is in my thoughts. Yesterday, I wrote, “Change in technology, change in lifestyle, change in fashions and in almost every aspect of our lives is not only ubiquitous, it is inevitable.” I still believe that to be true. This morning, as Greta and I awoke to an updated operating system on our smartphones and struggled with the new television we just purchased, I am realizing that at some point, probably (hopefully for everyone else also) change also becomes daunting. Change, especially with technology, ultimately becomes “the enemy.”
This is not necessarily a function of the aging process. I was relatively young when I suffered through the change from percolators to drip coffee makers. I still am traumatized by the death of our last percolator and the horror of going to the appliance store and realizing there were no percolators to purchase. Say what you will, drip coffee does not taste the same as percolated coffee. As I wrote this, I realized that I can make use of another change in life and search the internet to find whether or not I can still buy a percolator. Guess what!?! I can. (Note to self: after breakfast ‘google’ percolators and buy one on the internet)
I suspect that future historians may well categorize my generation as having undergone some of the greatest changes in human history. Of course, my parents would have challenged that; and, my children would probably challenge that. I believe that ultimately, the Electronic Age will be ranked alongside the Industrial Revolution, the Enlightenment and the Renaissance as times of immense change. Will the transistor be ranked above, below or alongside fire as humanity’s greatest invention? Time will tell.
This may seem so significant to me because I was initially trained as an engineer. We see and hear a lot about STEM today. My education predated STEM, but at an early age, I found mathematics and science both easy and interesting. Once I learned to detect the patterns and systems in language and history, they also came easy for me. My parents never commented on my interests, but, I was the first in my immediate family to become an engineer. Today, I wonder whether my father resisted the idea of a change in the interests of a member of the family.
Was change “the enemy” of my parents? My father died before the personal computer was developed. I’m not sure he ever even changed over to an electric adding machine. I learned to type on a manual typewriter. My mother had been a secretary before her children were born and used a manual typewriter. We never had an electric typewriter at home. Do they even make typewriters today? Do they still teach touch typing in schools today? Things have changed.
As I ponder the world of today, the internet, the advances in communication technology, the transition from desktop phones to handheld phones to smartphones to phones with multiple camera lenses and amazing computing power, I am sometimes overwhelmed. Then, I think about what I wrote yesterday about the immutability of our Creator God. I realize that God created all of Creation. That includes everything encompassed within STEM. That includes all the various branches of mathematics from simple arithmetic to algebra, trigonometry, calculus and beyond.
The first chapter of the Gospel of John is one of the deepest theological passages in the Bible. As a Christian, when I become fearful of technology and begin to think of it as “the enemy,” I remember, “1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life, and the life was the light of all people.”
Stay safe, do not be afraid of change, trust God,
Pastor Ray