Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here! 2 Corinthians 5:17
I the Lord do not change. So you, descendants of Israel are not consumed. Malachi 3:6
This year has been a big year of updating for ALCS. The upcoming 40th anniversary has lit a fire in our community to begin updating things around campus. New parking lot, fresh paint for the church, new science lab, new computers for the middle school, updated office bathroom in the preschool, new curriculum for math, social studies, and science, new features for tuition accounts, new structure for teaching confirmation, new security system, and a new roof on the church. I am sure there are some other things that I am missing but as you can see, there has been a lot of “updating” going on around here.
All of this activity of course is very exciting but there is always struggle and some sort of learning curve to go along with the update. We are learning new ways to do things and putting extra effort put into keeping things new for as long as possible. All of this updating reminds me of our ever-changing technology world. There is a constant state of renewal that takes place on today’s smart devices. Makers of smartphones are constantly updating the hardware to reflect new advances in technology. These updates are often bringing cool new capabilities but it also comes with a sense of uncertainty. The familiar is being replaced with unfamiliar. The comfortable with uncomfortable.
Let’s look at scripture. The two Bible verses above seem to be in opposition to each other. Christ is making things new but yet He is never changing. Even in this ever-changing/updating world, our Lord is never changing. Often I feel like I will be consumed by the constant changes but our Lord is constant when the world is not. So let the updates continue but the one thing that never needs an update is our Savior who made the perfect sacrifice for us. No improvement needed there.