Saturday, May 16, 2020
… Even Beauty Dies
Isaiah 51:6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens will vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and those who live on it will die like gnats; but my salvation will be for ever, and my deliverance will never be ended.
Luke 21:33
Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Words of Grace For Today
So many things change.
The foolish common word is that most people do not like change.
The truth is everyone yearns for change!
We just want change according to our wishes, changes for the better, which often we limit to better for ourselves and ours … but not for them, whoever them is!
What we commonly do not want is change that is foisted on us, making it worse for us … whether it’s better for others or not; though some people rise to the altruistic opportunity to gladly sacrifice themselves in order to being something better to those they love.
But who among us will sacrifice, gladly and eagerly, so that those who stand against us, our enemies, will have it better … instead of us and ours?
What God’s Word teaches us again and again is that change is part of how God created the world. Good change is possible. We have received, as those made in God’s image, the abilities to make things better, for ourselves and others. Sometimes we even actually succeed to make things better for everyone. That is a small miracle, a gift from God, since so few people strive to do that, especially those of privilege and wealth.
What God’s Word teaches us again and again is that life includes not only growth and things possibly made better, but life develops and decays into death. That’s just the way it is for us finite beings, us mortal humans.
Facing few good changes, and inevitable decay and death, no wonder that most of us do not look forward to change, for it usually foreshadows that we will decay and die, as the whole universe will eventually as well. Long before that so much of what is familiar to us will no longer exist.
How are we to look forward to even the rest of today, yet alone tomorrow or any day thereafter?
We look to God’s promises: our salvation will endure forever, long after the universe disappears. God is faithful. We can trust God’s Words and Promises because, while everything else can evaporate in an instant, God’s Word will never pass away.
God’s Word is forever, for us … for us all!
… God’s Light is Forever.