Have you changed your faith or has faith changed you?

Jesus is still the same one Peter walked toward on the water. Jesus is the same one Thomas reached out to touch. Jesus is still the one who sat with the woman at the well. Jesus is still the one who strode into the temple and turned over the tables of the money changers. Jesus is still the one who looked Pontius Pilate in the eyes. Jesus is still the one who confronted Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.

That same Jesus will reach out to every Christian one day and say, “It’s time to come home.” Jesus is the same now as he has always been and always will be. And, one day, we will meet him face-to-face.

One of the most powerful aspects of our Christian faith is that we share a love and faith for Jesus that every generation of humanity has experienced. King David loved and worshipped the same God we do today. It’s important to see all of God’s children as part of one, amazing eternal family.

Church history is a story marked by change. Everything on earth changes, including our churches. But the worship of God is consistently defined in his word. John 4:24 says, “God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” We share the same worship of God as everyone who has worshipped “in spirit and truth.”

Jesus has not changed, therefore his parables are still truth. Jesus would teach the same lessons to his disciples today that he taught to the disciples in the first century. God’s truth is as unchanging as the Author of the truth.

One day in heaven, we will live fully experiencing God’s unchanging truth. Until then, we must choose to be faithful to Jesus and his unchanging words. Are there areas in your life or your thinking that have shifted away from the truth of God’s word? Has your view of God, or his Son, become something different than is revealed in Scripture? It is good to remember that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.”

Christians have the same Scripture, the same teaching and truth, that was given to those in the first century. Our faith should increase and grow but should never be redefined. Jesus is the model for our own faith and the pathway for our eternal relationship with God. The model is unchanging because the model is perfect. And, one day, we will dwell with Jesus because of that truth.