Blessings in the Mighty Name of Yeshua Hamashiach!
Every time a new politician steps into the ring, he promises change. But change can be good or bad. We know we should change oil, lightbulbs, and dirty diapers. And growth requires change. But many people believe we should also change our morals, ethics, and beliefs to accommodate changes in culture. But should everything be open to change? The Bible gives us clear guidelines on what should change and what should stay the same.
“I, the Lord, never change,” God declares in Malachi 3:6. So that’s where we start. Change means a move in another direction. For God to change would mean that He either becomes better or worse, and God is ultimate perfection. He cannot change because He cannot be better than He already is; and He cannot fail or become less than perfect, so He cannot become worse than He is. God’s quality of never changing is called immutability.
Once we are “in Christ,” everything changes. We are born again (John 3:3). Our ideas change. Our perspective changes. Our values and actions change to line up with God’s Word. As the Holy Spirit works within us, we find that “the old has gone, the new is here!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). The Christian life is an ongoing series of changes as we grow in knowledge, faith, and holiness (1 Peter 1:16; Hebrews 12:14). We grow in Christ (2 Peter 3:18), and growth requires change.
Change for its own sake is neither good nor bad. It depends on the direction the change takes you. We should be willing to change our minds and our lifestyles when we are shown from God’s infallible Word that we are wrong. We should embrace change, no matter how hard it is, when it comes from God.
Shalom
Pastor Williams