Life appears to have many constants. For example, if right now out of boredom you drop this bulletin, we can say with almost 100% certainty it will fall because gravity says so. Or if you took a picture of yourself right now, waited 30 years, and compared your older self to that picture, we can say with almost 100% certainty that you will look different because time says so. To the farthest end of that, if we live on to old age or meet some tragedy beforehand, we can say with almost 100% certainty that our life on earth will end because death says so. Even on smaller scales life appears to have constants. I could take a huge bite of celery and say with almost 100% certainty that my day would darken because my tastebuds say so, or take a bite out of a PB&J and be transported to childhood because nostalgia says so. Like it or not, there are things that are seemingly absolute and unchangeable.
The only reason I use words like “appear” or “almost” or “seemingly” is because any constant the world brings forward still yields to the final voice of our God. We can lay out the measurements, establish the rules, and even depend on them as amazing constants that God has put down to help us thrive, but even the most dependable constants bend to God’s will. By all accounts and measures, at gravity’s request, Jesus Christ should have plunged under that stormy water the second he put a foot down, but instead he walked all over it. Why? Because God said so. By all accounts and measures, at the request of death and time, Lazarus should have stayed in that tomb and decayed until dust, but instead he walked right on out. Why? Because God said so. And even by all accounts and measures, at the request of our evils and sins, we should have no fellowship with God in His goodness, yet we are called with confidence behind the curtain and we are called sons and daughters of the living God. Why? Because the hands were pierced, the body raised up, the crown was set, the voice cried out, and because God said so.
He is the constant, and He is the unchangeable. He is the one that does not shift like sands or change His mind concerning his people. He is the one who set the stars in motion and moves the earth at its seasons and times. So while we can have some confidence that the world will continue as it always does in the way it does, may we not forget who has the final word when we see His wonders and his majesty at work, despite gravity, time, death, sin, and celery.
Caleb Smith, Pulpit Minister
