Hope in What Never Changes

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

We’ve come to the beginning of another church year. We’re only a short month away from the calendar’s new year. The new year is always filled with hope. We hope that the next year will be better. We hope that things will be different next year. We look forward to new blessings in the new year. Some of us might be looking forward to new challenges. Maybe we have new plans, or new jobs, or new gifts coming in the new year that we’re excited to carry out or receive. As we come to the new year, it is interesting that we pin so many of our hopes and dreams on how things are going to change. Or how this year will be different from the one we just had. That was one of the great slogans on New Year’s Eve 2020. Next year is going to be different. Next year is going to be better because things will change.

But how do we know? We don’t. We know things are going to be different, but is that good different, or bad different? Who knows. Then our hopes become shifting like the sand. Those hopes then are so filled with questions and doubts that all we have are fears about the future and what changes will come barreling our way like a runaway train.

We also see how much we change. Sometimes those changes are for the better as our experiences and adversities mature us, make us more level-headed, and grant new insights into how to act in such scenarios. But sometimes those changes are for the worse as those same experiences can make us even more annoyed at the character traits and ticks of the people around us. We might find that our bodies grow weaker with age, and the things that we once were able to do are no longer possible. We change every day, yet we so often put our hope in ourselves and the good works that we do, and the strength of our convictions. But even these things change, sometimes for the better, but also the worse. We make mistakes. Our judgment often changes so that what we enjoyed at one time no longer brings us the same joy. We are changing people, and to pin our hopes on ourselves leaves us on the same shifting, sandy ground.

And then we have a God who says that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Unlike the rolling of the years, He never changes. We always look for things to be different in the new year, yet He is never different. He doesn’t change who He is from week to week, or even year to year. He doesn’t endure the shame and suffering of the cross, then appears to the disciples on Easter Day and says, “Guys… that… that was tough. I hated it. I can’t be with you, anymore so long as that’s how you’re going to act.” No, instead He appears to them and says, “Peace be with you.” He keeps His promise, His unchangeable Word. He even doubles down on that unchangeable word by swearing by Himself. Jesus is your Saviour. He forgives you all your sins. You have been washed in that promise in your Baptism. You have been fed that promise in the bread and wine that are His body and blood given for you. You have had that promise lorded over you in the absolution of your sins. That promise never changes. Jesus died for you. Jesus lives for you. Though you die, yet shall you live. And though you who believe in Jesus die, you will never die forever.

Our hope stops being on ourselves, or the changes of the new year, which are never certain and always mixed with fear. Our hope instead reaches outside of ourselves to Jesus and His words. Then our hope becomes the rock. Solid and immoveable. Certain and unchanging, because Jesus is unchanging. His Word has told us “It is finished.” All is done. And we find a hope that never changes. We are forgiven in Christ. We will live in Christ. We are with God in Christ now and forever. And standing upon that rock, the changes of the new year or the changes in ourselves do not need to frighten us. He is with us. And He never changes.

Your servant in Christ,
Pastor Tim Schneider