The Word endures

having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because

“All flesh is as grass,

And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.

The grass withers,

And its flower falls away,

But the word of the Lord endures forever.” Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. – 1 Peter 1.23-25

Things come and go. We all know that. I know we say ‘the more things change the more they stay the same’ has some merit, but there is also a sense where ‘the more things change the more they change. 

I am still a young man, but things have changed a lot in my short lifetime. I have only lived in Ireland twenty years, but this is not the same country we moved to in 1995. Things change – that is life. 

Change can be scary – we never know what is going to come next. Change can be good or bad. The only thing that we can really depend on is things are going to be different. And in the midst of all that change everything around us is fading away. Once you drive a new car off the lot it is a second hand car – and that goes for all the stuff we deal with. 

Things change. The law of entropy tells us that things from order to disorder, things tend to run down. Anyone who starts to age a bit knows the truth of that. 

But in the midst of all this change and entropy there is something that we can depend on. There is something that endures no matter what runs down into disorder. 

The word of the Lord endures forever. God’s word doesn’t change. It is not subject to the law on entropy. It is not going anywhere. It lives and abides forever. 

Just a few miles from here in Dublin you can visit the Chester Beatty Library for free (except on Mondays). Upstairs there have a wonderful collection of early Bible manuscripts. Some of them date from the 2nd to the 4th century. There are some of the earliest manuscripts of several whole Bible books. Some of them are on display is glass cases and those who can read Greek can actually read these ancient documents. I was there with my son Matt, who does read Greek and he assured me that what he read there was what we have in our English translations today. 

I, for one, I am glad there is one thing I can hold on to that is not going to change or disappear Everything else I know may pass away – but my Bible stands