The More Things Change…

“Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”  Hebrews 13:8

There is an old saying which was coined by a Frenchman, Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr in 1849, a year after the French Revolution.  He said, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”  That doesn’t seem to hold true any longer in some arenas of life, but it does still hold true in others.  I remember many years ago I went with my cousin and her parents to Florida in the summer after high school graduation.  My cousin and I met a couple of boys about our age and struck up a conversation with them.  When she and I returned to our motel, we told my aunt and uncle about these guys.  My uncle warned us to be careful around them, which was and is always good advice about meeting strangers, particularly for teenagers.  My cousin objected to his warning, I suppose because she felt that we were smart enough to be careful.  She said to him, “Daddy, times have changed.”  He replied, “Yes, times change, but people don’t.”  And he was right because man’s nature is and has always been one of selfishness and pride.

Every single person that has been born was born with a sin nature.  The sin nature is a prideful nature.  It wants to do what it want to do.  The sin nature is selfish.  It regards itself above all others, including God.  It has been this way since Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and will remain so until Christ returns and banishes evil and restores righteousness.  However, until the time of His return, no matter how the secular world changes, folks without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit will continue to operate in sinful thoughts and actions as they always have.

It actually seems that there is more evil today than ever, but this could be because people have grown bold in their wickedness.  Folks used to try and hide their sin from others, and there are things that people wouldn’t even speak of in mixed company, but today with the advent of social media and the internet, there is nothing held back.  Not only are things brought out in public that some of us wish would remain behind closed doors, there are sins that some folks boast about.  When a group of women “shout” their abortion as some type of praise of the murder of their unborn babies, or when a state legislature celebrates the passage of a law to murder babies, I think that we have passed the point of no return.  We are living in an “in your face” society.  Many people have no shame about anything.  The change in society of accepting things that years ago would cause folks to be mortified indicates that the more things change, the more things don’t stay the same: they get worse.

There is one thing, though, one very important thing that has never changed and will not change no matter how much more sinful people become:  Jesus Christ is still the righteous, loving, merciful, patient, and forgiving Savior.  Not only can He change situations, He can change people.  But He will not change anyone against his or her will.  Those who desire to stay in their sinful condition, God will oblige.  I am sure that He does so reluctantly for He desires for everyone to experience the forgiveness, peace, and joy that Christ offers (I Timothy 2:4), but He will not violate His own word.  Jesus saved folks nearly 2,000 years ago, He is still saving folks today, and He will do so into the future until the time that harvest is over and the resulting fruits of His labor are gathered.  When Christ forgives a sinner and welcomes him or her into His family, he or she will definitely not stay the same.  “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Corinthians 5:17).