Changes

Solomon is known for saying there is nothing new under the sun. Does that say that everything happening today is like it has always been? I remember the 1940s and 1950s well enough to know that life is nothing like it was back then, when we didn’t have to worry about locking anything. Now, thefts at church and work are almost always inside jobs. Some may say people haven’t changed, but I have no doubt that, generally speaking, people have distanced themselves from God. And that says they have changed for the worse, not better. Has God’s Word changed? That depends on how you define “God’s Word.” The King James Translation hasn’t changed, but we now have the New King James and countless other versions of the Bible. Besides that, our interpretations have changed with the times. We pick the parts we like and either ignore the others or interpret them in a different way. Sometimes in defense of their beliefs, I hear people say, “I just believe the Bible.” Actually, they believe their interpretation and are saying they aren’t interested in changing their beliefs by hearing a different perspective. We might say God’s voice hasn’t changed, but I’m not sure that’s entirely true. John Wooden, famous coach of the UCLA basketball teams, was once accused of treating his players differently. He fired back a rebuttal, saying he absolutely did treat his players differently. Why? Because every player was different, having different needs. If the people of this decade are different from the people of the 1940s, God would not change, but his voice would. God’s voice toward obedient people is necessarily different from what he must say to the disobedient. The promises of God are conditional, and many people, including preachers, miss the conditions, wanting to claim a benefit for which they have no eligibility. For example, “All things work for good.” No, they don’t. No matter how good things might seem to be, those things will be very bad if people don’t love God and aren’t working to fulfill his purpose. Will God give us the desires of our heart? People claim that promise because they aren’t seeing it happen. Could it be that what they want isn’t what God wants? Of one thing I am sure: God hasn’t changed. He’s the same— yesterday, today, and forever. And if we want to experience his glory, we need to change. Without that change, we won’t see Heaven. Beloved, we may be God’s children, but we don’t yet know what we will become. But the more of him we see, the more we’ll want to be like him, for we shall see how great he really is. — 1 John 3:2, The Discussion Bible