Unchangeable

New year resolutions come around like clockwork. Every year, folks decide they are going to make big changes in their life. Some common resolutions are: to eat healthier, lose weight, exercise more or to finally tackle that mess in the garage. Despite our best intentions, most of us will give up on our new year's resolutions after only 17 to 18 days into the new year, according to a study by the, Resolution Clinic. By Valentines Day our New Years resolutions are little more than a fond memory. Oddly enough, one resolution I have never heard anyone say yet is a commitment to not change. It seems that we are so busy looking for things to fix we forget that some things are perfect. God, unlike humans, is completely without flaw, possessing perfect love, wisdom, justice, and power, and that this perfection is a source of comfort and security, allowing us to trust in His goodness even when we face challenges in our own imperfect lives.

Psalm 18:20 ESV This God—his way is perfect; the word of the Lord proves true; he is a shield for all those who take refuge in him. 

Being perfect, God is the standard by which everything else is measured. It would be impossible for God to be imperfect, because that would mean that another standard has found a flaw in Him. But whose standard would that be, certainly not that of a man? Can creation be greater than its creator? If there is another standard higher than God’s standard, then that means God is subject to judgment by something else, by someone else, making that other thing or person a god. Humanity often tries to elevate its own opinions above God’s decrees, God's word, implying that He is flawed. Any time someone says, “If I were God, I would do such and such” or “If I were God, I would never do this or that,” he reveals his own haughty spirit, not the imperfection of God. When we judge God by our own standards, we are in effect placing ourselves on His throne. 

Deuteronomy 32:4 ESV The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he.

When we evaluate some of God’s actions from our own perspective, we unwittingly set ourselves in judgment over God. That is a dangerous position to hold because God is our judge; we are not His! We must relinquish our perceived right to judge and approve of God’s methods. When we begin our quest for understanding with the premise that God is right, and we are wrong, we gain greater insight.

Proverbs 3:5-6 ESV Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 

God is perfect; we are not. But when He saves us, the Holy Spirit moves in and begins to transform our imperfections. God’s goal is that we become, conformed to the image of His Son. Although we know we will never attain absolute perfection in this fallen world, He wants us to pursue it. So this year when you consider making your New Years Resolution do your best to make resolutions that will better align your life with the only one that is perfect and needs to make no changes what so ever. The Unchangeable creator God.

Isaiah 40:8 ESV The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.