GodReflection: Power Words
“I the Lord do not change” – God (Malachi 3:6)
It seems rather crazy to think of changeless as a power word in the 21st century. Rapid ambient change is all I know.
I was born seventeen months after the atomic bomb exploded to begin the end of World War II. The Industrial Revolution was ready to explode. Medical advances were about to burst onto the scene with overwhelming frequency. No one could have predicted the rapid change of the second half of the 20th century.
The 21st century ushered in the Information Age with the worldwide Internet and 24-hour news shouting at me from countless sources. Box stores roll out new gadget after new gadget. Did I mention churches? Talk about change.
The period from President Truman to President Obama; it is hard to image a prior seven-decades in human history that experienced anywhere near the quantity and the high-speed of change.
Change gives no hint of loss of momentum in the future.
There are times when I feel like a felled tree into the raging river of change. Torrents of change come at me—some good—some bad. My tree trunk resists as change rushes by. The branches of my tree fail to slow the unfamiliar.
My spirit cries out for the changeless. I need to know that beneath the flowing river of change I can secure my soul to the bedrock of the changeless.
In a search of Scripture, the only thing I can find declared as changeless is God Himself. Descriptors like Word, Love, Forgiveness, Grace, Just, Eternal, and other portrait words become changeless, since they are His essence.
He is my rock
I want to join the Psalmist as he declares trust in a changeless God, “Truly He is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken.”
However, I still experience the inundation of change.
How do I respond to the gush of change as a disciple of Jesus?
It seems to me as I hold secure to the changeless God, there is no fear in change. To fail to change might be the worst possible strategy.
Obviously, I want to change to be more like Jesus. I don’t really want to address that here.
What I do want to address is the need I feel to create a desire within to understand tides of change. It isn’t enough to want to be like Jesus and climb under my secure rock of the past.
Do I fall under the same condemnation as the first century religious teachers when at times I teach opinion as doctrine? After all, my church has always taught it that way. Why should I change?
Is it possible I can understand and even adapt to cultural changes in a effort to be Jesus to people who cannot see him in me when I live as a loyalist of tradition?
The message of Scripture is to be church by growing like Jesus. The message is never to look like church.
Can I learn to hold onto changeless as a word powered by God while being intentionally creative with change so that others might see Jesus?
Stay tuned.
Dr. Gary J. Sorrells – A GodReflection on the Power Word Changeless
Gary@GodReflection.org
God Reflection 