iGod X?

How can we find consistency in an ever-changing world?  I am not the “get the newest phone” type of person.  As long as she (my phone) is treating me well, I will keep her, and we’ll mutter through life together.  Recently, my son’s phone was broken, so I went to get a new one and give him my old one (I’m not that attached to her).  So I got the phone that is one number bigger than my old phone…It was just like my old phone!  There was nothing new about her?  Why is it that every year we need to change to the latest model?  Why do we need an iPhone X when they didn’t even make the iPhone 8 or 9?  It was the stupidest thing I ever heard.  Think about it, every time the makers of this phone come up with something new, I’m sure they think it’s perfect.  No one (in their right mind) truly puts a flawed product on the market yet every year there is something better than the previous product.   

We live in a world that is ever-changing, and we have to accustom ourselves to that.  We are used to changes in fashion, cars and the newest “in” thing.  We have to admit our inability to hold on to something that’s constant in this day and age.  We change–just as much as the new iPhone and newest style of shoes– in our moral, our beliefs system, values and more.  I remember when teens would hide their smoking and drinking habits from their parents.  We would say, “as long as you are living in my house under my roof you will respect my rules”, now parents encourage teens to do it under their roof so that their kids won’t need to hide it.  

In June of 2015, President Obama was instrumental in making it law that same-sex couples would be able to get married like any other heterosexual couple.  The bill sent some of my friends into a frenzy because of their religious convictions; they did not know what to think.  They felt that we, as believers, were beginning to embark on our rights were being taken away.  It raised the inner conflict amongst us; this made me feel like it was necessary to separate myself from it all. My friends thought that the United States was indeed going downhill and this law proved it.  I begged to differ.  This nation went down a long time ago, and this law is just a result of it, not the proof.  Believers can get in an uproar about that law, but stay silent about other things.  The United States is not the only ones that have lowered their standards.  To me, this bill shows how the church has failed in their own standard.

God Cannot…Change…

 How does it benefit us that the God we serve, never changes?  A God who stays the same is like a piece of land we build our homes on.  How foolish is it to try and build a house on the water, or a swamp. If building a structure on something that changes is not devastating, you have not observed the catastrophes left behind from an earthquake.  We are a people that need things we can depend on, yet we are attracted to things that are always changing.  When someone finally gives their life over to God it is usually because they are tired of things that are ever changing; they need him to be their Rock who will always be immovable and unchangeable. Look at these verses 

God is not man, that he should lie,
or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?  Numbers 23:19

16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. 17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.[d] James 1:17

Can God’s inability to change keep us from wanting him in our lives though? I think the reason we struggle with our inner image of God is that he doesn’t seem to want to compromise his values to meet our desires. When we think that God conforms to the new fads, trends, and styles he will revise his expectation of us.  God will completely understand if I fall in love with the new girl/guy at our job and it starts getting a little heated after our date.  God knows that it is so hard to live in this sex-filled world without falling prey to sexual temptations.  Does God truly want me to obtain from any form of sexual activity until I find the right one?  But what if I wait and find the right one, marry them but realize they are the wrong one? God will be okay if I go looking for right one after marrying the wrong one. That’s pure foolishness that happens regularly.  

Why can’t God see that sex, money, knowledge, and popularity that is the driving force of this today?  The sad truth is that these things have gotten us caught up in that web of lies where these ever-changing fads motivate us.  What ticks us off the most about God is that even with the millions of translations of the Bible, it still says that the love and pursuit of these things will lead to a life full of pain, hurt and destruction.  We want God to change his ways so that we can live the way we want to live and still have the favor of God on our side.  We yearn for him to grant us blessing and erase the consequences for making these choices, but he won’t.  

…Because He Can’t Improve

Why does change happen in the first place?  The reason one changes is because we get tired of something and another thing comes along that is better.  We change because something (attitude, friends, significant other, job, church) is not meeting our new needs, so we invest in something better.  We change because we realize that maybe our old ways was not giving us what we wanted—whether good or bad. We also change so we can be better than what we are.  So why would God change? 

God is the same yesterday today and forever (Hebrews 13;8) because how can you improve on perfection?  Perfection means flawless, so do you fix something that’s not broken?   But when we think of the word “perfect,” we perceive, for the moment, as time goes on it will need remodeling like that perfect iPhone.  See God needs no improvement, he needs no upgrade, update or new downloads to understand what it takes to be our God.  What does it mean to serve a perfect God?  It means that what he says, what believes, his ways and his thoughts are always better than ours.  We are imperfect, and that’s why between God and us, we must change.  

3 And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. 4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:3

Weekly Challenge:

As yourself this question and journal the answer, is there something about God you wish he would change about himself?  Is there something you wish he would compromise on so that things would be easier for you?  If God changed this side of himself for you, would that affect others in a negative way?

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