Constant Change

 

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utumn is in full swing.  There is a crispness in the air, the sun rises later and sets earlier, the nights are longer, the days are shorter, and the tress are changing colors.  Everywhere I look, trees of various shapes, sizes, and types are exchanging their green coats for garments of red, orange, yellow, plum, and brown.  It is a beautiful sight to behold. 

 

For some reason, a particular patch of trees captured my attention the other day as I made my way home from a meeting at the university.  Just over the crest of a small hill and a short distance from the Interstate stood a clump of trees brightly dressed in orange, yellow, and red.  As I passed by, I stared in amazement and then glanced several times into my rearview mirror until they were out of sight. 

 

As I continued toward Fort Worth, I couldn’t get that picture out of my mind.  Although the leaves were gorgeous, the image of the tree occupied my thoughts.  Something about the tree’s trunk and branches stood out in my mind.  Although the leaves were beautiful, they were in a state of change.  They had budded in the spring and remained through the summer.  Now, however, they were in the process of dying and falling from the tree.  But the trunk and branches of the tree were unchanged.  They looked the same as they did this time last year and the year before. The trunk was still strong and the branches still reached skyward, even though the leaves had already fallen from several of them. 

 

As I thought about this, two words came to mind, constant change.  Now, these words are completely opposite in meaning.  How can change be constant?  This is a question the Apostle Paul seems to have pondered as well.  It was something he warned Timothy about in his last letter to his “son in the faith.”  Let’s take a look at Paul’s words and understand how his admonition to Timothy to preach the word applies to us today. 

 

In 2 Timothy 4:1-3 Paul writes, “In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: Preach the Word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage--with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.” 

 

Paul’s final instructions to Timothy are clear.  He is to preach the word both in and out of season.  Straightforward speech was never a problem with Paul.  He knew times of change were ahead.  He knew that, like the leaves on the tree, change was inevitable, but Paul also knew that the message of Jesus Christ was unchanging, no matter what the season.   

 

This is also to be our response to God’s word.  We are to proclaim its truth regardless of the climate or the season around us.  We are not to tell people what they want to hear but are instead to proclaim the immutable truth of Jesus Christ.  In today’s world, a world that is constantly changing, this proves challenging; but God’s word is clear.  In season and out of season we are to proclaim the truth without compromise and without adjusting it to suit the needs of our friends, family, or the world around us.  Even when everything around us is changing, we must hold on to the truth that is always the same. 

 

The leaves I saw today were falling but the trees were still standing. Which one of these two is representative of our lives today?