There is little doubt that we live in a society and world that is changing at a pace that often boggles the mind. Styles, values, cultures, and ideas change, it seems, at the speed of light. These changes can inspire us, or upset us, or confuse us. They can present significant ethical challenges and can even confront the faith we profess. Against this panoply of constant change and shifting, we have a Lord who, as the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us, “is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8) While creation and humanity are buffeted by constant shifting, God remains faithful and unchangeable. It’s a concept that we find difficult to understand, mired as we are in the shifting models if our social compact. Sacred Scripture is filled with references to the unchanging nature of God. St. Augustine wrote much about the God who “would never repent”, meaning, never go back on His word, never flinch in defense of man. He referred to God as “the unchanging One who changes all things.” His gifts or graces and election are without change. He is faithful and unchanging toward humankind because unchangeably true to His own nature. His faithfulness abides in spite of our lack of faith, and is in many places represented as the basis of our confidence in God who is true to His calling of us and to His gracious promises. As St. Paul wrote in I Corinthians 1:9: “God who has called you into fellowship with His son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful.”
The reality is this: God never changes. However WE may. While he remains faithful to us, there are times when we turn from Him or become lukewarm in our covenant with Him. While in His constancy He offers us spiritual peace and fulfillment, we are often “fair weather friends” of the Lord. How many times do we wonder why God causes or allows disasters, illness, personal problems, and other human tragedies? We wonder where God has gone, why He is absent, what caused Him to change. In the present world of ego-satisfaction, people resist taking responsibility, or being accountable for their lives. But until we stop displacing our problems on God, how CAN we rightly understand God as unchangeable? We can’t. How can we succeed in loving, knowing, understanding God, when we are constantly putting Him in the doghouse by blaming Him for the results that properly belong to human choice or the randomness of life. He is faithful and walks with us the narrow path. It is we who are given over to change and moral shifting. He will never abandon us, leave us, or turn His back on us. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Let each of us examine our hearts and see where we have changed on God, asking the immutable Lover of mankind to redirect our steps, re-orientate our hearts, so that we clearly see and experience His abiding, unchanging life and love. Let us recall the words of the spiritual writer A.W. Tozer: “I recommend to you Jesus Christ, the unchanging One. I recommend to you God’s answer to your questions, God’s solution to your problems, God’s life for your tired soul, God’s cleansing for your weakness, God’s rest for your restless mind, and God’s resurrection for your dying body. For advocate above, I recommend Him to you. You will find Him to be all He ever was–the very same Jesus.”
Fr. Dimitrios
