Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher, is quoted as saying “change is the only constant in life.” This saying has also been translated to “the only constant is change.” He lived in Ephesus, near modern Kusadasi, Turkey, around 500 B.C. And so, some 2,500 years later, is this still a truism today?
One psychologist wrote: “People age, develop habits and move environments. You can’t step into the same river twice — even rocks were subject to changes by the elements over time.”
We know that God never changes. In our Update on April 7th 2017 was the Q&A “Does God Change?”, and below is an excerpt from this:
“We know from Malachi 3:6 that God does not change: ‘For I am the LORD, I do not change’. Another verse that is used to show the unchanging nature of God is found in Hebrews 13:8: ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.’ In James 1:17 we read: ‘Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.’”
We showed that there were a number of examples where God did change His mind but none of these changes involved any diversification to His unalterable spiritual Law. God does not alter, nor does He compromise with His law, or with His plan for mankind which is set out in His Holy Day calendar.
But what about those called by God?
God is perfect. We have not yet attained that state but we must continue to grow and overcome. We read in 2 Peter 3:18: “…but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
When God called us, everything changed. We saw the world for what it was and how Satan manoeuvres and manipulates mankind to his sinful way of thinking and behaving. We discovered that God has a Master Plan for all of humanity and that we needed to put the world behind us and follow the Way that will be standard practice in the Kingdom of God. We learned to keep the weekly Sabbath, not tread all over it. The annual Holy Days, integral to understanding the future, became a fixture in our lives, and we grow in this knowledge and understanding the longer we keep these.
Change was everywhere when we were called.
And now, after many years in the Church, we understand that statement in 2 Peter 3:18, as mentioned above. We accepted change when God revealed this to us, and we must continue along the path that we have chosen, following God’s calling, no matter how hard it may seem at times. We are not alone in our spiritual endeavours but have “support staff” through the Father and Jesus Christ.
Change from the carnal approach to a spiritual one in this life is something we have been tasked to achieve and is a constant requirement for those in God’s Church. There is help available as we read in Philippians 1:6 where the apostle Paul wrote: “…being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.”
