Hard Pill To Swallow….

Free or not free?

It was a warm summer afternoon in our little town of 200 people. My sisters and I had just gotten matching three-speed bikes for Christmas, and this was our season to get out and explore. Like many other days, we rode three blocks to the general store with two dollars from our parents to split on snacks.

We each had our favorite snack aisles, but I always went straight to the Tootsie Roll lollipops. If you found the wrapper with the Indian aiming his bow at the star, you got a free one! I loved the hunt for that little prize. I still remember the thrill of handing my “winning” wrapper to the owner that day with a huge grin—only to find out the rules had changed. What?! No more free lollipops? What a letdown. Maybe it was inflation, or maybe something else, but for a kid, that was a hard pill to swallow.

Things change. We change. Rules change. Even rules for lollipop wrappers change. That’s part of life. And if we don’t change, how can we adapt and grow with the changes already happening around us?

But you know what’s amazing? God never changes. Even though everything He created changes, He remains the same—steady, consistent, and unshakable.

Hebrews 13:8 reminds us, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Malachi 3:6 says, “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

I love those last three words: “are not consumed.” Consumed means destroyed, used up, or burned out. Can you imagine if God changed? We’d have no one to rely on. Think about your relationships—when we change as a spouse or a friend, it affects the people around us. Sometimes they’re left wondering: Are you the same person I said “yes” to?

When we said “yes” to God, we chose the Lord who never wavers. He doesn’t say one thing and do another. We don’t have to second-guess His character. No personality changes, no character flaws, no hidden agendas—God’s the real deal, through and through. We never have to wonder if this is the same God we said “yes” to, however long ago.

There is good and bad change in us. If we adapt to a world that brings harshness, that change is found to be a spiral to nowhere. I think the secret sauce is being aware of our influences and letting God change us so we are not consumed, but instead transformed from the inside out. (Romans 12:2)

Lollipop wrappers change. We change. But God doesn’t. And that’s the best news of all.

From A Traveler Just Passing Through…..