On Change

Times change. They seem to sometimes change faster than calendars. Sometimes slower. Today, while on a transition in my own life as large or likely larger than any other so far, I went by an old training area on Ft. Benning, GA. It was ten years ago to the day that I last left here. Didn’t plan that. It’s just another wonderful gift of God in his providence. The OCS or “Officer Candidate School” training center where I commissioned ten years ago has been entirely abandoned and gutted. Buildings that I once trained in, missed my family in, prayed in and studied in are occupied now only by spiders and squirrels. I just learned it was abandoned today. Everything changes.

There is a fixedness, however, in the gospel. Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Matthew 24:35. This is a good verse to visit every time we ask ourselves what our view of Scripture is. The question is: do we view the Bible like Jesus did? If not, we’re wrong.

I read today the same gospel that was preached over two thousand years ago. The church is not dilapidated. It has not been abandoned or antiquated. What excites St. me about my sanctification once excited St. Paul as well. Truth has no shelf life. This truth has no expiration date…if it’s truth at all.

The truth is like a monument that stands firm over all generations. Cultures and ideas change. Truly, mankind can be rather fickle. The God of heaven, however, has no alterations. “For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.” Acts 2:39. The promise of the gospel is literally about as old as recorded history. God has developed this promise. He has revealed more and more of how it works to his church from the start. We now know how it works to a degree that was unfathomable 4,000 years ago.

“For I, the Lord, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” Malachi 3:6. What a wonderful certainty to grow in.