"The Unchanging God"

  Things around us are always changing. We see it in our children, to our jobs and in nature. There are earthquakes and volcanoes that change things very dramatically while other changes around us are almost unnoticed until one day we notice that new tree we planted a few years back has really grown. People change as they age.

  However, God never changes. That is good news!! Why? Because that means the consistency of God will always be there no matter what we go through or encounter. God is not affected by time and dimension. He is eternal. God is Spirit! One generation of man comes along changing only to find that God and His word is unchanged. Doesn't it amaze you that when you read from this book we call the Bible how relevant it is to us? It seems as if God is addressing us today, even though it was written so long ago. That's the eternal God speaking and working. James says it best when he describes God as the giver of perfect gifts "with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow." (Jam. 1:17)

  Today in dealing with our eternal God, a righteous and holy God, people seem bent on dividing His people to change. Some people, even though God is one, even though the unity of the Spirit must be preserved (Eph. 4:3) and Jesus prayed for unity (John 17), break up and break off! Like the blowing winds of a hurricane, they destroy God's stability to pursue their own agenda. They pull people away with them and offer no apology, no repentance but instead state they did it in all in the name of the Lord. It's not over false teaching. It's mainly over disagreements on how things are done or personalities. 

  Some seem to ignore the word of the Lord. They want to redefine Christ and His church and how it is to work. Human influences begin to replace the teachings of God. These people who do such are self-appointed changers of God and His word and wreak havoc on God's people. Jude says it this way: "These are the ones who cause division, worldly minded, devoid of the Spirit." (Jude 19) Paul told the church to keep your eye on those who causes changes that bring dissensions and hindrances and turn away from them (Rom. 16:17). In other words, they aren't from the Lord. They leave destruction in their wake. The good news is this, once they have done their work and left, the people of God find peace and contentment once again by continuing to hold to the unchanging, eternal God knowing He will see us through.