Jesus Christ Is the Same Forever

BY Seana Scott

So much has changed in my life in the last ten years. My mom slipped into the other side of eternity, we moved cities five times and added two children. All the change sometimes feels like a spinning ride at the fair—constant movement with no certain reference point—whirling circles that sometimes leave my soul feeling nauseous.

But as life spins me around, I’m learning to fix my gaze on the unchanging reality of Jesus Christ. Everything else I depend on for a sense of wholeness shifts. Fades. Dies. A parent’s departure or money dwindles as gas prices peak, and my trust in God’s character becomes my stabling agent—my constant. God remains the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). 

What feels like spinning circles in your life? 

I think maybe God led the writer of Hebrews to remind readers of God’s never changing character because we all face instability. The first-century Jewish believers maybe even more so. Their whole faith system spun on its head. They no longer needed the temple sacrifices. They no longer needed to live bound to their religious laws. They no longer needed to hope to hear from a prophet. Jesus was greater than all these things. Generations of religious history twirled on the point of Christ like a dreidel. Their fixed reference point of following the law spun to a new reference point, following Christ (Joshua 1:5–9, Matthew 25:35–40). 

What is your reference point these days? What do you focus on?

Part of what sometimes spins us in circles spiritually is social media. We hear all kinds of thoughts on who Jesus is—what it means to follow Christ—the kind of life we can “claim” as believers. It can be easy to have our faith spun in circles based on half-truths. Maybe our reference point for truth and wholeness sometimes needs refocusing. The author of Hebrews encourages readers not to be led astray by various kinds of teachings, and to be established by grace rather than following certain religious regulations (Hebrews 13:9). Are we led astray by various kinds of teachings or trying to keep up to our own version of regulations? 

Sometimes I am distracted. Sometimes my soul is weary from it all, and I sit on my back deck, stare at the trees, and cry. And the Spirit of God reminds me of His peace “through the blood of the everlasting covenant” of Christ and reminds me of His will for me (Hebrews 13:20–21). And I can see my reference point again—the unchanging, steadfast God of the universe who is with me and always will be (Joshua 1:9). My soul stops spinning. And I can follow Him again.