The Change Constant

We have to say goodbye to The Big Bang Theory.

The wildly popular show premiered on September 24, 2007, and for most of its run was primetime’s most-watched comedy series. In fact it remains one of the most successful sitcoms in television history – and the longest-running multi-cam comedy of all time. It even surpassed Cheers, which is hard to believe if you grew up when I did. The Big Bang Theory has generated an estimated $1 billion and counting in syndication. The series has received 52 Emmy Award nominations and ten wins, along with seven Golden Globe nominations. And the two-part series wrapper ended on a strong note in the metered markets last night.

12 years. 279 episodes. And the elevator finally got fixed.

Change is a universal constant. Perhaps that is the takeaway. And it’s a good one for us to ponder as this week draws to a close, because it’s true.

We think that it was the Greek philosopher Heraclitus who said it first: “The only thing constant is change.” That was before Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. What did Heraclitus mean? That there is nothing stable in the world around us. Planning a summer trip to the Smoky Mountains? Even those mountains are changing. It may take millennia, but they change. Slowly but surely their shape is altered by time and external forces.

And not only the world around us changes, but we change. Surely you’ve noticed that we’re changing. We change physically, mentally, morally, and even spiritually.

Because everything around us – and even in us – is changing, ancient pagans saw their gods as deceitful, unpredictable, arbitrary, and even scheming. In our popular culture, more and more people are questioning the existence of God, as you well know. Others – even some who consider themselves Christ followers – are expressing serious doubts about the reliability of the Scriptures. And, among those who truly believe in God, many understand little about who He really is. This kind of confusion and uncertainty inevitably leads to overwhelming feelings of insecurity.

But. But. But.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8. No more hopeful words were ever spoken! James says it like this (1:17): Every good and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. Talk about a Big Bang!

But here’s the problem with sin. It makes us seek after permanence and security not in the awesome God who created and loves us, but in things which are also changing. The search becomes futile, my friends, unless it ends in Christ.

“For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed” (Malachi 3:6).

In Christ.

Pastor Charles