IMMUTABILITY OF GOD’S WORD
A father and a son went to a kite flying festival. They purchased a kite and started to fly it. As the kite rose higher with the wind, there was much joy, but there appeared to be other kites flying higher. Then the son said to the father, “The string appears to be holding the kite down. If we cut the string, the kite will surely rise higher, let us cut the string.” The father cut the string and they watched as the kite rose higher at first, but then slowly started descending and fell down to the ground. As the son looked quizzically at his father, the father said, “the only way to demonstrate to you that the string helps the kite to rise and not curtail it was to cut the string”. So it is in life- the strings we think restrain us, in fact help us to rise.(1)
One such string is the word of God contained in the Bible.
In Mark 13:31, Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away”.
Immutability is an attribute that is ascribed to God, which implies that God is unchanging in his nature. ‘The Westminster Shorter Catechism says that, “God is spirit, whose being, wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and truth are infinite, eternal, and unchangeable.” Those things do not change.’(Wikipedia)
Now just like God is immutable, his word is also immutable. The word of God is an extension of God Himself. God is spirit and while his presence and work can be felt, he remains invisible. The word of God is the very best physical representation that we have here on earth of God. And so reading the word of God is much more than reading a book, it is uniting oneself with the very nature of God.
While man understands that life here on earth may come to an end one day, his understanding is often based on the lack of sustainability of life here on earth due to climate change and perhaps natural catastrophes. Man doesn’t often consider the entire universe itself to be finite. But the Bible makes it clear that the entire universe is finite and a time will come when not only the earth, but the heavens will also pass away. The only immutable presence is that of God and his word.
If God’s word is immutable, and the only visible immutable thing available here on earth, should man not value it as such? Should not man take time to read, memorize, meditate upon and practice the word of God? And when he does so, the word of God becomes an integral part of him, becoming a string that helps him to rise higher.
- Adapted from www.moralstories.org.
