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 46:2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea;
Matthew 18:3 "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
James 1:17 Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
Change. Yea? Or, Nay? Many of us, as we age, begin to view ‘change’ as a four-letter-word. Not that we forget how to spell or how to count, but rather that we become increasingly resistant to and uncomfortable with change. If you (falsely) believe that does not apply to you, watch your children and/or grandchildren. Look at what occupies their attention, look at their toys, listen to their music. If you think you have kept up with all the changes since you were that age, hum the tune to a Taylor Swift song or sing the lyrics. Try to play Fortnite . . . or whatever is taking the place of Taylor Swift and Fortnite as the world around us continues to change.
Change is an inevitable characteristic of life and of the world around us. Change has been much on my mind this week, possibly because of the theme of my These Days morning devotional. This week the focus scripture has been Mark 7:24-37 and the theme “Changing Your Mind.” Interestingly, a part of that scripture will be our New Testament reading on Sunday.
The devotional writer this week has talked about Jesus’ changing his mind in the story of the Syrophoenician Woman. I have found her reflections on this passage somewhat uncomfortable and disquieting. Hopefully some of you who use that devotional guide have thought about the topic this week as you have read her words. Maybe some of you, irrespective of whether or not you do so, maybe you are familiar with that story. If not, stop right now and go read Mark 7:24-30. Now, having done so, did Jesus change his mind?
For me, the doctrine of the immutability of God is very important. I wrote about it in these Thoughts in January and said, “as you think about God’s immutability, maybe you are humming Great is Thy Faithfulness, “Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father! There is no shadow of turning with Thee; Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not: As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.” My theological dictionary defines the idea as “God’s freedom from all change, understood to emphasize God’s changeless perfection and divine constancy.” I think of it as the reliability of God, the assurance that God will always keep God’s promises.
Dispensationalism is an understanding of God which is traced back to Nelson Darby in the 19th century. My theological dictionary says, “Each dispensation is a different time period in which humans are tested in responding to God’s will.” It has been declared a heresy by some denominations because it is often understood to imply that God is not immutable, that God does change.
I often remark that we never live in the world in which we were raised. By that, I mean that the world of our youth has moved on. The world of my youth, the middle decades of the 20th century, has moved on into the early decades of the 21st century. Today’s world is replete with computers, smart phones, incomprehensible music and lyrics (to my ears and mind), streaming, and a multitude of new and different ideas, concepts and devices.
Our faith and our denominations are sometimes criticized for not changing and adapting to the world around us. To some extent, we are guilty. Our own congregation, like many others, is struggling with how to stream our services, how to make an online worship experience more significant and meaningful.
Through it all, through the changes in technology, through the changes in music, entertainment, games, even theological ideas, the one changeless, immutable certainty in Creation is our Creator God. When we cannot depend on the constancy of anything else, we can depend on the constancy of our God.
Stay safe, rely on God’s always being God, trust God,
Pastor Ray