A lot of things have changed in my lifetime. When I was a kid, I heard about fender skirts, curb feelers and continental kits (they covered the spare and attached to the rear of the auto and made your car look like a Lincoln!). Did you ever get all dressed up in your “Sunday go-to-meetin’ clothes” (maybe “store bought”) and go into town on Saturday to a matinee at the “picture show’’? Then, we didn’t have to “rate” movies because most of them were ‘‘G” movies. Morality was promoted instead of immorality.
A lot has changed. Some things have changed for the good. We have better medical care and safer cars, and many inventions benefit our lives. Yet, some of the changes are not good. Not too long ago, marriage was sacred, sex outside of marriage was sin, and promiscuity was neither condoned nor excused. Unmarried people didn’t live together. “Day care” was provided by mother in the home! Just a generation or two back, a man’s word was his bond, children had prayer and read the Bible in school, and “in God we trust” on our money meant something.
Fortunately, there are some things that have not changed. God has not changed (Malachi 3:6). He is the same loving God Who created this world for us and Who gave His only Son to die for us. Jesus has not changed. He “is the same yesterday, and today, and forever’’ (Hebrews 13:8). The Bible does not change (Psalm 33:11). God’s Word has been once for all time delivered to us (Jude 3). It is sacred and not to be altered (Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6; Revelation 22:19). The plan of salvation has not changed. By the grace of God, Jesus died for all men that we might die to sin and purify our souls in obedience to the truth (Titus 2:11; Romans 6:2; 1 Peter 1:22). If man today will comply with God’s terms of pardon, he can wash away his sins in baptism (Acts 22:16) and have a hope of eternal life (Romans 6:22-23; Titus 3:7).
