DEVOTION / Does God change?
Have you changed?
Have you looked at your baby and childhood pictures lately? One thing we have to agree with is that people change as they grow older. Think how your hair has changed over many years. It may be darker or lighter, or perhaps it isn’t there at all. People’s noses change, their skin tone changes, and certainly their height and weight change as well. And not only that, our voices change and even our minds change – often. We become smarter and wiser about things around us. We understand how to solve problems, how to speak in other languages, how to sing, how to keep safe, and how to speak to other people. As we age, we change our viewpoints about friends, politics, and even religion. People are always changing. None of us will be the same five years from now.
Change also happens all around us. Trees change from seeds into huge plants. Pets get old and die. Seasons change from spring and summer to fall and winter. Temperatures change from day to day. We get used to change because it is all around us. Change began when Adam and Eve stepped out of their beautiful Paradise. Change happens in a sinful world.
What about God?
What does that say about God? Does God change? What would our lives and our love for him be like if we knew he changed from decade to decade or even from one day to the next? One day he would hate lying, and the next day he would allow it. One day, he would tell us he loves us, and the next day, he could change his mind. One day, he would say that he wants us in heaven, and the next day, he would feel differently about it. How difficult it would be to trust a God like that!
When we search out God’s changeless Word, we find some reassuring comfort. Malachi 3:6 promises: I, the LORD, do not change. Think of what that says. It means that God’s forgiveness will be there for us tomorrow, just like it is today, and it will still be there for us until the end of time. It means that God’s love for us will never stop. God will love us next week just as much as he loved us last week. We may change, but God will never change. We can rely on that!
We need to share this message. We can tell others that in this changing world, we have a loving God who is changeless. Hebrews 13:8 assures us that: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
By Reynold R. Kremer