Everything Changes but God

The Eastern Roman Empire was the continuation of the Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. It survived the events that led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD and endured until Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. – Wikipedia

The Byzantine Empire survived for over 1,000 years. Just imagine a couple of Roman craftsmen cutting stones for a new building in Constantinople in 1452. They had seen wars and threats their entire lives, but their city had remained Roman. Do you think they would have believed if someone told them that in less than twelve months Constantinople and the remnant of the Eastern Roman Empire would come to an end? My guess is that they would have rejected such a message. They would have expected their city to survive another attack, just as it had done countless times, but it didn’t.

I have no idea how many times I have reminded each of my children, when they were concerned about some change in their lives, that the only constant is change; that and God.

We can count on nothing in this world. Our economy improves and then tanks, friends are friends and then they are not, loved ones overflow with vitality and then they grow old and sedentary, your beloved wife or husband is by your side for decades, and then they die. Everything changes, but we have no need to fear if our life is built on the solid rock of Jesus¹.

I remember when I was very young, my dad and I were lying on the grass, on his farm, staring up at the stars. He told me that he and I and everyone would live forever, but we had to choose whether we would live with God or live without Him – my dad talked to me that way.

The thought of me living forever terrified me! Dad went inside our home while I lay there with my mind whirling with thoughts. You would think that a kid would want to live forever, but for me, that idea was frightening. But that was the first time that I talked to God. It wasn’t a “now I lay me down to sleep,” it was an “Oh, God, I’m scared!” This was the beginning of my prayer life, though I didn’t understand that at the time.

We will see dramatic changes in our lives and in the world around us, but we don’t need to fear. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).” This world can be a scary place, and the thought of living forever may feel overwhelming, but when we accept God’s salvation, which is only found in Jesus, we need never fear change.

This world is not our home. We’re just passing through.

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1. The LORD lives! Praise to my Rock! May God, the Rock of my salvation, be exalted! – 2 Samuel 22:47 ↩︎