“Change is good” is a phrase that communicates the provocative idea of a fresh start or a new beginning—an appropriate sentiment in many situations. A low-risk change such as choosing an unfamiliar restaurant for dinner or committing to a new hairstyle doesn’t have lasting negative effects. On the other end of the spectrum is change that carries the potential for ongoing harmful consequences like an unexpected illness or the loss of a loved one. Change, by nature, is unsettling and can result in confusion, anger, fear, distress or despair.
Feelings of anxiety may creep up when contemplating the incremental changes in our culture. When did I become a simpleton for believing in creation? When did I become selfish for believing that a child in the womb was a real, dignity-deserving person? When did I become primitive and intolerant for believing babies are born, definitively, as a boy or a girl? Fixating on change can become instantly discouraging.
While the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said, “The only constant in life is change,” I’m partial to the truth in Scripture that describes the immutability of God. That is to say that God does not mutate, He does not change. He exists outside of time and is not affected by it. Men and women are born, grow and eventually will die. Conversely, God did not begin, nor will He end. He is not improving or degrading and in no way is He “becoming.” He is not subject to variations, permutations or adaptions.
They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment.
You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. (Psalm 102:26–27)
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. (James 1:17)
Not only is He immutable in His being, but His truth is unchanging. What God declared true to human number one is true for all of mankind today. Neither He, nor the truth He espouses, is subject to scrutiny based on the political climate. God and His Word are never found on the wrong side of history.
The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations. (Psalm 33:11)
God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? (Numbers 23:19)
What’s more, faith in Jesus Christ was, is and will be the singular method of salvation. Jesus does not change, nor does the promise of deliverance that comes through Him.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Hebrews 13:8)
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
Brother and sister, we have no reason to experience confusion, anger, fear, distress or despair due to change. We are children of a Father that is unchangeable in His being. Our hope is in a truth that is unalterable. And our redemption has been secured by the enduring Son of the Living God.
Why, if I believed what some preach about the temporary, trumpery salvation which only lasts for a time, I would scarcely be at all grateful for it; but when I know that those whom God saves he saves with an everlasting salvation, when I know that he gives to them an everlasting righteousness, when I know that he settles them on an everlasting foundation of everlasting love, and that he will bring them to his everlasting kingdom, oh, then I do wonder, and I am astonished that such a blessing as this should ever have been given to me! -C.H. Spurgeon