One time a few years ago, I was telling our then-foster daughter that when I was her age (she was 15), nobody had cell phones. Ellie, who was 8 at the time, overheard. “Wow!” she said. “I didn’t know you were that old!”
Perhaps it was this story Lindsey had in mind one day recently. Or perhaps it was simply the fact that my kids find it fascinating to know how things were “back when” Mommy was their age. In any case, Lindsey said, out of the blue, “I can’t wait until I grow up so I can tell my kids, ‘You know, when I was a kid, there was no such thing as the iPad 25405!’”
Actually, by the time she’s the age I was when I had kids (she’s almost 9 now, and I’m…well…older than 9), I wouldn’t doubt it if even the awesome wonder of technology that is the iPad had been replaced by something even more incredible.
Technology is developing at an ever-increasing pace. Just when I have one new device mastered enough to turn it on, the new version comes out, filled with more things I don’t know how to make it do. I love technology, but I have to admit that it’s hard for me to understand and keep abreast of.
That’s why I’m so glad that the Bible never changes. True, I now read it on my Android 10.1” tablet, by using a program that can do all kinds of things. But the content—the stuff God wants me to know—is the same content that was written thousands of years ago.
I know there are other versions of the Bible out there—the KJV, NIV, the Message, the ESV, just to name a few—but all of these versions are based on the same original texts. All are based on the original Greek and Hebrew manuscripts that do not change. Ever.
This means that we don’t have to master any “new and improved” versions of what God thinks is important—as if He came up with something better. God doesn’t need to modernize the content of His Word. What He said in the first place was completely right. That means it was, and is, good enough for all time.
One day, the iPad will be obsolete (hard as that is to imagine). But God’s Word will never be obsolete. Why? Because God Himself never changes. What He was, He now is, and He always will be.
No upgrades needed—because He can’t get any better or more accurate than He already is.
Hebrews 13:8—Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Psalm 102:27—But you are the unchanging One, and your years will have no end.
Malachi 3:6a—”For I the LORD do not change.”
Matthew 24:35—“Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”