Posted by
peripheral on Monday, May 17, 2010 5:47:16 AM
From My Perspective - - -
All have heard and parroted the phrase: “The More Things Change The
More They Remain The Same.” For those who research the words of others,
this statement is attributable to Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1908 –
1990). The guess at what it means includes: “…it is something similar
to ‘nothing new under the sun’, except that it’s more paradoxical. A
simple interpretation is that it means the one thing that we can be
sure of, the only thing that is consistent in life, is that nothing is
permanent.”
In a Day By Day Devotional, Charles R. Swindoll wrote: “Better than any
other word I can think of, ‘change’ describes our world. Vast, sweeping
changes, especially in the last 150 years…Consider two of the more
pronounced changes in our world. (1) Population - It was not until 1850
that the number of people on this globe reached one billion. By
1930…the number had doubled. Only thirty years later—1960—it was up to
three billion. (2) Speed - Until the early 1800s the fastest any human
being could travel was about 20 miles per hour on the back of a
galloping horse. By 1880 the ‘streamline’ passenger train whipped along
at 100 miles per hour, an unheard of and fearsome velocity. Today -
manned space rockets jump the speed to 16,000 miles per hour…There are
also the technological advancements in the last century; the enormous
changes made in military armament and defense; advanced agricultural
processes; other modes of transportation; breakthroughs in medicine;
etc.”
Track and Field has also witnessed significant “change” in the last
half-century. The year 1954 was notable in the Track World when the
impossible became possible – a man running a mile in less than 4
minutes! It had never been done before. Investor's Business Daily
carried this story – “For Roger Bannister, the gauntlet was thrown
down: Someone told him his goal was ‘impossible.’ Until 1954, the
fastest any human ran a mile was 4 minutes 1.3 seconds. That record
stood eight years. Many thought it would stand forever. Bannister
decided it wouldn't… On May 6, 1954, he became the first man to break
the four-minute mile barrier with a time of 3:59.4. It was a milestone
so important that Sports Illustrated rated it, along with the climbing
of Mount Everest, as the most significant athletic feat of the 20th
century.” It’s a strange truism – “records were made to be broken.”
Shortly after Roger Bannister’s achievement, Herb Elliot – an
Australian middle-distance runner who was world-record holder in the
1,500-metre race (1958–67) and the mile race would achieve that
same goal and set a new record. It was reported: “He ran his first
sub-four-minute mile in 1958; and in that year he set a new world
record for the mile of 3 min 54.5 sec and for the 1,500-metre race of 3
min 36 sec. Elliott ran the mile in less than 4 minutes seventeen
times.” Many have probably forgotten the feat of “…Ukrainian-born
Sergei Bubka who beat all the competition at the 1983 World
Championships with an 18-foot pole vault when he was only nineteen.
After that he added one inch after another, until finally he broke the
magic barrier by clearing 20 feet….”
In the spiritual realm, an anchor point for one’s belief system is this
basic truth stated in Malachi 3:6, “I the Lord do not change…” The
Theological term is: God Is Immutable! From an article in The Reformed
Witness: “That God is immutable does not only mean that God does not
change, it most emphatically means that He cannot change…We change
physically, mentally, and spiritually. Styles change. Governments and
their leaders change. Nations come and go. Creation underwent
significant changes at the time of the fall and of the flood, and
continues to undergo certain changes. Over against all this stands
God!” This truth has further significance in terms of personal identity
and relationship to the Lord. Because God does not change, there is
great assurance in the words of Isaiah 54:5 and 10, “For your Maker -
the Lord Almighty is His name - the Holy One of Israel is your
Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth…Though the mountains be
shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not
be shaken nor My covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, Who has
compassion on you.” In this world of flux, you have an Anchor; a firm
foundation; a God Who is not affected by circumstances or events. He is
the Solid Rock! He is unchangeable! Be anchored to Him! Consider these
things with me!