Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way. 

Well, it’s finally here – yesterday was officially the very first day of the fall season. I am so excited to start pulling out all of my sweaters and flannel shirts as the cooler weather coasts in. And actually, it already started. Even though yesterday was raining the whole day, it was not warm and humid so that you felt disgusting as soon as you stepped outside. As I saw in a humorous post, ‘The temperature went from doing from 90 to 65 like it saw a state trooper’.  It’s so true. Yesterday’s high was 63° and today’s high is 64° with a cool breeze and bright blue skies. The fall and winter seasons are my absolute favorites, which should not be a surprise since I was raised in the Northwest. I thrive in cooler weather, and am just in awe of the way that everything changes over a period of really just a few weeks. Trees in blossom that are full of green suddenly put on a show and display the most vibrant reds, golds, and purples and oranges that you’ve ever seen. Then, once again just a short time later, they fall to the ground and leave the branches bare until they are soon blanketed in a sheet of ice and snow. I am so grateful to live in a state that’s climate really brings out all four seasons, even though come spring and summer I’m really just waiting around for it to be fall and winter again.  Regardless of what season is your personal favorite, something that is certain is that seasons change. Every year there will again be another spring, another summer, another fall, and another winter – you can count on it. While certainly some years there are greater changes than others, such as a harsher winter or a hotter summer, you will never see a time where things don’t change as though time suddenly stood still. If there is anything that you can take to the bank about things in this life, it’s that they change. Everything changes. Seasons change. People change. Culture changes. Technology changes. Traditions change. Plans change. Styles change. We can go on and on forever, can’t we? I’m trying as hard as I can to think of something, and aside from certain laws of physics or nature, almost everything changes. But imagine for a moment those things that don’t change suddenly changing, like the gravitational force constant, for example. Imagine waking up one morning and you’re floating in mid air like you were in space. How chaotic and insane would life suddenly be? Or imagine if the freezing point changed, and suddenly anything 70° or below would turn to a solid block of ice – would that cause some problems? You see some things will always change and be in flux, it’s how they were designed and intended to be. But some things will never change, and will remain the same throughout all time, and we should be grateful for that – because if the things that were intended to remain constant changed, it would result in chaos for everyone. 

As I thought about these things today, my mind kept going back to the one thing that will never change that I am most grateful for above anything else: and that is the Creator. Charles Spurgeon once said, “The seasons change and you change, but the Lord abides evermore the same, and the streams of His love are as deep, as broad and as full as ever.” Spurgeon was not imparting wisdom of his own, but merely paraphrasing what we know and understand from Scripture. In his mind no doubt were passages like Daniel 2, where we read in vv. 20-22, “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.” Change comes from God, as the creator he authored and designed for so many things to change. God is the author of spring, summer, autumn and winter – he brings each season in it’s turn. And yet, what we should be eternally grateful for this this – that he who authors change himself will never change. Consider several passages of Scripture. Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Malachi 3:6, ““For I the Lord do not change.” James 1:17, “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.” There are many more passages that we could turn to, but they all teach us the same comforting fact: God does not change. Why is such a statement so comforting? Because if God in fact did change, his nature, his character, or his promises, we would not have a firm foundation or reason to hope in him. Imagine for a moment that the promises of God were not sure, but that they changed. That today, all who call upon the name of the Lord can be saved, but that in the next season only a select few could call upon his name. Or imagine that God’s love and patience with the world suddenly changed – and suddenly he revoked the blessings offered through Jesus and instead inflicted man with all kinds of cruel tortures. Or imagine if only those in the past could be saved by grace, but going forward anyone born from today on could only be saved by works, which is impossible. If God changed, it would result in complete and utter chaos. There would be no hope, no assurance, and no security found in him. As it is, the same God who guided Israel through the wilderness is the one who guides us through his Word. The same God who delivered Israel out of bondage in Egypt delivers us out of bondage to sin. The same God who fulfilled his promise of a great land to Abraham’s decedents will one day fulfill his promise of our home in heaven. At the end of the day, God’s love will never change. His offer of salvation and hope through Christ will never change. His grace and mercy will never change. He who changes remains unchanged, our God everlasting! Let’s close with Psalm 102:25-27, “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end.” 

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.