Trusting God in Times of Change

How's your ancient Greek history? Probably not much better than mine! But with Greece so much in the news these days and with our planned departure to Athens in the autumn I have been brushing up on what will be, God willing, our new cultural context. Greece is going through such challenging times at the moment with big changes anticipated in the social, economic and political life of the country. But I discovered recently that one of their many philosophers, Heraclitus of Ephesus, living in about 500 BC taught that true wisdom was to understand that the human condition is characterised by change. "Change is the only constant" he wrote, and to resist change is to fail to embrace life. More interestingly he also developed the idea of a single, eternal 'God' who is behind all things and who set all in motion; he called this force the Logos. Some 500 years later the Apostle John opened his Gospel by deliberately employing this term for Jesus Christ – the Eternal Word – the one through whom all things were made.

The bed rock of the Christian faith is that the one who has created the world and who has given us life is the one who is completely trustworthy. Through all the changing scenes of life, in trouble and in joy, our God is constant in his love and care for those who trust in him. Over the summer weeks on Sunday mornings we are going to be taking a look at some of the people in the Bible who found God utterly reliable. We'll begin with Abraham and how he trusted God as he was called to a life of pilgrimage. And the golden thread running through the studies as we consider others like Gideon, Samson and Rahab is that, as Hebrews 11 tells us, "all these people were still living by faith when they died." Not that they all had great faith – many of them were seriously flawed characters just like us – but their faith was in a great God.

We all face changes in our lives and whatever each day brings we need to have an outlook that is shaped by faith in a God who is not only the Eternal Word, who in his majesty and power has created all things, but a God who is also the Word made flesh who has dwelt among us in great humility and weakness. A God who understands us and our changing world and who is nearer than we can imagine to help and empower us. So in changing times let's be encouraged as we come together on Sunday mornings and find our faith renewed by an ever faithful God.

Phil Jenkins

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