Change…
This is something every single one of us has experienced. Change. Some changes you welcome—others you dread. Some changes are outside of our control—others depend on us. The fact is that change is something that happens to everyone, all the time. Seasons change, people change, laws change, moods change, plans change. Change is inevitable—we can’t get away from it—especially not on days like January 1st. The main day in every year where many people make a conscious decision to ‘change’ something about themselves or their way of life.
The New Year is a time to reflect on the past and make plans for the future. I wonder as you reflect on 2015—how many changes have happened in your life? How many were positive changes? How many were unexpected? How many brought you joy? How many brought you sadness? What did you do when these changes happened? Who did you turn to? How did you cope? Did you make resolutions last year? How did they work out? Did you have to alter ideas and plans you had for yourself?
As I reflect on the past 12 months and I’m sure as you do the same—it is safe to say that there have been many changes and things that are different now than in January 2015. But with that in mind—instead of focusing on what positive changes we can make in the New Year or how we can make resolutions to do things differently—let’s focus on an amazing truth we are taught in God’s Word that totally contrasts our experience of change.
For I the LORD do not change.1
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.2
Instead of focusing on us and our lives, and the changes ahead of us in 2016, and the New Year’s resolutions we may make—let’s focus our attention on the fact that in all the changes we go through in life, all the different circumstances and various situations—God does not change! He remains constant. He is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, 2015 and 2016. He does not change. His Word does not change, His promises do not change, His law does not change, His love does not change, His faithfulness stays the same, His presence stays the same, His holiness, His justice, His comfort and His care—He does not change and He will not change.
So if there is one change you could make this year, then make it that your focus and your life revolves around the One who remains the same through every season of our lives, the One who we can continually rely on every day for every need, reflecting on how He has not changed in 2015 and how He will not change in 2016.
