Pastor’s Thoughts – 11-09-2025

One morning this week while making a quick trip to the store, I pulled into a parking lot behind a mid-60’s Lincoln. This was not a restoration and the car looked terrible. It reminded me of how I once rode in a new Lincoln of approximately the same year with a friend from high school. It was his parents’ car, and we were riding in style. My friend’s dad let my friend take the car to an event and I rode with him thinking how special we were because of the car. My opinion of that old car has changed because that old car has changed. Time is like that. It is not forgiving. We, who have lived for some period of time, realize that through the years our focus on what is important also changes. What does not change however is our need for a right relationship with God. And if understood and embraced it will never grow old, never reflect rust or corrosion, but will grow in value and in increasing joy.

It is not just cars that change over time, but more importantly relations with people change and often radically. That same friend I was close to in high school, I have not seen in many years. Our situations in life change, people change and too often people will disappoint or fail in some manner. In the context of Hebrews 13, the writer addresses how we should relate as Christians toward one another. He begins by stating, “Let love of the brethren continue” (Heb. 13:1). In this same context he also alludes to the disappointments that people can bring by stating, “The Lord is my Helper, I will not be afraid what will man do to me” (Heb. 13:6)? Then he makes the most important declaration of the Son of God, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). As we live and observe the changes around us, do we realize the incredible value of the reality of our unchanging God? The fact that He does not change also means that He always abides with us. For in this same context, it states also concerning Christ, “I will never leave you or forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). It makes me think of the old hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” Scripture says that He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother (Prov. 18:24).

The very anchor of our soul and the constant companion that never leaves us is our Lord. He does not change. His love, sympathy, care, endurance with us and thousands of other things in relation to us do not change. That familiar verse, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand (John 10:27-28) is so valuable to consider. We should also realize that He is called the Word (John 1:1). He is inseparable from His Word, the Bible, and what He has promised. This also connects the Word of God with His immutability. “The grass withers, and the flowers fall off, but the Word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Pet. 1:24-25). One of the reasons we must place the teaching and preaching of God’s Word in such a position of highest priority is that it endures forever. What God gave us as Jude says in the book of Jude is that the Bible was, “Once for all handed down to the saints” (Jude 3). There are no revisions or upgrades. It never grows old or declines in value.

This brings me simply to add my final point in reflecting on the unchanging Savior and His unchanging Word. We can trust our Lord Jesus, and we can trust His Word. There is nothing fickle about either. In much of the Old Testament writings God expresses His disappointment and judgment upon Israel for their unfaithfulness to the Lord. Yet God purposely made unconditional promises to Israel and He will not relent on those promises. He says through Malachi, “For I the Lord, do not change, therefore you, O sons of Jacob are not consumed” (Mal. 3:6). It is the Lord’s faithfulness that gives us all hope, not our faithfulness. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful” (2 Tim. 2:13). We, as Christians, continue to live because He is unchanging in His commitment to those who love and trust Him. God spoke to Job and stated, “I have spoken once and will not reply, or twice; and will add nothing” (Job 40:5). Moses speaking for God put it this way, “God is not a man, that He would lie, nor a son of man, that He would change His mind; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good” (Numbers 23:19)? All of God’s attributes interlock and make Him perfect and holy. He cannot turn away from what He has promised, or who He is; nor can He turn in any form toward evil or darkness. He is never less than who He is and can never do anything to violate His will. He changes not!

It is no wonder that we are called to worship Him in Spirit and in truth. While the world changes daily, and most of those changes are in the direction of evil and sin, our trustworthy and always reliable God is ever present for us to call upon, and as Isaiah 40 says, “Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength; they will mount up with wings as eagles, They will run and not get tired, they will walk and not become weary” (Is. 40:31). Our faithful God never changes. Hallelujah!