Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Change of Life


“For I am the LORD, I change not…” (Mal.3:6)
He’s the only one who can make this claim. C.S. Lewis has observed, “To live in time is to live with change.” But since God only experienced the restraints of time for thirty-three years out of His existence from eternity to eternity, He is exempt from all its modifications and limitations. And as the remaining half of the verse points out, it’s good thing all around. (“…therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed”) His commitment is as invariable as His character, which is why I have committed my soul to Him (2Tim.1:12).

As I have already indicated, however, you and I cannot make this boast. We change. Still, that’s not such a bad thing. Some things need to change. But in the case of a true child of God, regenerated by the Holy Spirit, change is only progress when elemental, essential beliefs remain the same. Change, for the sake of change, is simply that: change. As the writer of Proverbs says, there are some people who are just “given to change” (24:21), and they wear others out in the process. The Christian experience should deepen with age, not becoming more complex, only more complete. Outward manifestation may change, but the inner core will remain as constant as God, who put it there. If not, no Good Seed was ever planted in the first place.

When I was growing up, menopause was usually referred to as the “change of life.” The foreboding of the term is probably why it is seldom used now. It sounds as though nothing will ever be the same again. But, in truth, nothing ever is, throughout all of life. Hormones may appear to suddenly become erratic—in both men and women—but, actually, infancy, childhood, puberty, adulthood, and middle age have all been moving us steadily toward old age. It only seems like, as the saying goes, “About the time your face clears up, your mind gets fuzzy!

Ironically enough, when it comes time for me to stand in the presence of God, the first order of business will be one last change (1Cor.15:51-52). On that day, He will change my “vile body” and fashion it “like unto his glorious body” (Philip.3:21). And that, dear friends, is the “change of life” I’m waiting for!

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