We are well into 2007. Things are constantly changing. The computer I buy today may be totally obsolete tomorrow. What is hip and cool today is totally outdated and uncool tomorrow. Our moods change with the weather. Our feelings change with the seasons. Our emphases in life change just as much as the rising and setting of the sun.

Six years ago the emphasis of my life was to get done with the seminary, wait expectantly and worriedly for the birth of my first child and for my first call into the ministry. Today my emphasis is on raising two wonderful kids and leading a church through the first decade of the 21st century.

In the midst of the workaday world that chases after all the latest fads, we can be sure there is at least one thing that will not change.

The old saying goes, "We can be sure of two things, death and taxes." I would have to add one other thing, the Word of God. His promises are as sure today as they were when he promised Adam and Eve that he would send a Savior. His word is just as valid and as relevant today as it was the day he first breathed it into the ears of His inspired writers. His Law and His Gospel mean as much today as they did the first time they went into the ears of its hearers.

The problem is not God's Word as so many would like to say. It is not outdated and irrelevant. It is not wrong. The writers would not have changed what they said based on scientific hypothesis. God would not have changed his mind based on what a few people thought and said was true. It has never been based on the whims of men but on the steadfast mind and will of God.
No, the problem is not God for he does not change and he is perfect in every way. The problem is the sinful creatures who change on a minute-by-minute basis, whose very lives change like shifting shadows, whose moods change based on the barometric pressure. The problem is we are sinful creatures who cannot seem to simply take God at His Word. We want to have it our way, not God's way.

In an age of complete relativism, in an age of you believe what you want to believe and I'll believe what I want to believe and we're both right, we need to get back to an absolute truth. In an age of everyone saying what itching ears want to hear, the law, the commandments of God, need to be proclaimed and taught so we all know where we have fallen short and where we stand with the Almighty judge and know that we are all poor miserable sinners. We need to then proclaim the simple Gospel of God's grace that he gave through the death and resurrection if his Son, Jesus Christ so that people, in their despair over their sin, may be saved.

As this year bulldozes forward, and as your thoughts and moods change by the minute, trust in and hold fast to God's Word as it changes your life from the inside out. Trust in the promises of God which are the same yesterday, today and forever and which will save you for all eternity.

I urge you to read God's Word, the Bible, for what it truly is, God's Word and not necessarily what you want it to be. Peace go with you throughout this year.