Keeping up with the times
By Bruce Boyer
Hall of Fame baseball player Yogi Berra said, “Yesterday’s skills don’t win today’s games.” We can’t stay the same and expect to successfully compete in today’s world. It is no secret that our world is constantly changing. New technologies give us the potential to work more efficiently, so we can continuously learn and communicate in different ways. Fashions change, as do the design of today’s cars. People get tired of the old ways of doing things. We are considered old-fashioned if we don’t change with the times.
But not all change is good.
It is human nature that people want to change the accepted morals of this world. They constantly challenge what is right and wrong, ignoring that what is right with God is more important than social acceptance. Many know their actions conflict with God’s teaching, yet they do it anyway. We make excuses, such as “others are doing it” or the rules are “old-fashioned,” so they stretch what is considered acceptable.
I saw a quote recently that said, “If God lets you do everything you want, then your god is you.” Mankind has been challenging regulations and laws since the beginning. The first inhabitants of this world challenged God in the Garden of Eden, leading mankind to a sinful nature. It is human nature to want things our way instead of God’s way.
God provides an anchor for us to navigate the changing times. It is not wrong for us to discover the science God built into the world. Mankind is continually learning new technologies to help us understand the complexity of God’s creation. God’s anchor is the Ten Commandments, the rock that gives us God’s unchangeable standards for how we treat each other, ourselves, and our relationship with Him. We need an anchor to set parameters. Just as a parent protects their young children from harm, we need to know what is right and wrong to protect us from destruction.
Even though the winds of change may circle us, we can take comfort in the fact that God never changes. We don’t have to wonder if God’s way will ever change. It won’t. You will never have to regret that you followed the commandments and now they don’t apply anymore. Mankind may have attempted to change social norms to justify their own desires, but God’s Commandments are etched in stone.
To be clear, mankind doesn’t determine right from wrong. God does. And He remains the same. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Given the choice – which I am – I would rather be right with God than be accepted by my fellow man. Seek to live your life doing your best to follow the Ten Commandments and to know you are forgiven when you fall short. Forgiveness is not a free pass to ignore God’s Word! You will fall short, but God knows your heart and offers grace for those who believe.
God’s Word is much more than a “moral compass.” Morals change over time. They are merely mankind’s standards and not God’s. We need to be sure that we don’t interpret the commandments to our liking. That is why it is important to be in God’s Word. Satan was successful in getting Adam and Eve to question the meaning of God’s Word. He will try that with you, too. Stay strong.
We may need to keep learning to stay relevant to our world today and learn about God’s Kingdom, which has no end. God helps us through today’s contemporary problems. For I am the LORD your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you. (Isaiah 41:13) as He prepares you for this life and the life to come.
Bruce Boyer lives in Kernersville and is the author of two devotional books and writes a weekly devotional email. A library of his stories is posted on https://christianfaithstories.org/.
