Real Change You Can Believe In
It has been said that the only thing constant in life is
change. Nothing stays the same, except for the fact that everything keeps
changing. For the Christian, the truth is much more comforting.
We most clearly see God’s constancy and our hope for change in one place—the
cross of Christ. We are forever loved by the unchanging God through the
substitutionary sacrifice of His only begotten Son. To use John Wesley’s
paraphrase of Malachi 3:6, God says, “I have an
unchangeable hatred to sin: and my long suffering also changeth not.” How can this
be? How can God continually hate sin and yet continually show mercy to sinners?
Because “God set [Christ Jesus]
forth as a propitiation by His blood . . . that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has
faith in Jesus” (Rom. 3:25-26).
Finishing the topic we began last week, here is what
Scripture has to say about God and change.
The one thing in life
I need to stay the same is God—and He never changes.
“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man,
that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and
will He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19).
“Of old You laid the foundation of
the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but
You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You
will change them, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your
years will have no end” (Ps. 102:25-27).
“For I am the LORD, I do not change; therefore you are not
consumed, O sons of Jacob” (Mal. 3:6).
“Every good gift and every perfect
gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there
is no variation [change] or shadow of turning” (Jas. 1:17).
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and into
eternity” (Heb. 13:8, literal translation).
The unchanging God is
the one who makes it possible for us to experience true and lasting change.
“And I will make an
everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from doing them good;
but I will put My fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from Me”
(Jer. 32:40).
“I will give
you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone
out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within
you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do
them” (Ezek. 36:26-27).
“And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved”
(Acts 2:47).
“When they heard these things they
became silent; and they glorified God, saying, ‘Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to
life’” (Acts 11:18).
“For by grace you have been saved
through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (Eph. 2:8).