Immutable means to be fully consistent or unchanging.
Even though most of us enjoy variety, we hold our lives together with habits and routines. By adulthood, we have experimented with and optimized these routines and are either content with them or find them very difficult to change. This foundation may include our beliefs, where we live, what we drink in the morning (for 83% of American adults it is coffee - 3 cups daily on average), who we hang with, the team we root for and much more. It is what we count on to keep life sane.
When I already have what I want, I want to keep it. My health, my home, my friends and job. When what matters to me is under any threat of loss, I will work hard to keep it, whether through buying insurance, working long hours, or taking medications.
Why are the things I most enjoy also being threatened the most?
Threats lurk all around me, but I am more concerned about some than others. It could be finances, reputation, physical health or looks. My worst insecurity is about losing what is most important to me. Unless that most important thing is God, I will constantly live as a “tottering fence”.
What am I most concerned about losing?
'For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,' says the LORD, who has compassion on you.
Why do I fear loss more than I appreciate gain?
Nobel prize research in economics showed the psychological impact of a loss is two and a half times as powerful as that for a gain. About half of all people fear losing their job. 90% of people worry their phone may run out of battery charge. Fear of loss grows with the more we have. And when we have so much already, gaining more is not as important as losing what we have. But change, especially loss, is a constant part of our human existence.
How long will all of you attack a man to batter him, like a leaning wall, a tottering fence? They only plan to thrust him down from his high position. They take pleasure in falsehood. They bless with their mouths, but inwardly they curse. For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him.He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.
How can I keep what I already have?
We do expend great effort and cost simply to maintain what we have. 73% of car owners who purchased an extended warranty hadn't used it for repairs during the lifetime of the policy, even though the average price paid for the coverage was $1,000 per year of coverage. And, on average, those who did use it spent hundreds more for the coverage than they saved in repair costs (Sept 2023 Consumer Affairs research). Sometimes letting go of a good now will be better for me in the long run. I can miss what is best by clinging to what is average. God offers me what is best and most lasting - Himself.
And he (Jesus) said to all, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?
Only God is immutable for eternity.
To understand that I am not immutable is easy - I change constantly, physically, emotionally, intellectually and more. It is more difficult to comprehend One Who has not, does not, and will never change. For anyone who depends upon God for salvation and guidance, immutability is vital and may be a bit under-appreciated. What if He kept changing His laws and truths?
For I the LORD do not change;
Jesus was, is, and will always be God.
As God, Jesus has the same attributes. The God of the Old and New Testaments is not only the same, but has the same message - live by faith in what an immutable God has promised.
Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
So what do I do now?
Be thankful for God not changing even as my own life is in a mess of change. We depend upon gravity and live confidently based upon its practically unchanging characteristics. I can depend even more on the absolute consistency of God.
Ask: What am I depending on to last more than a decade? Why?
Every good gift 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.
Prayer
God, thank you for never changing - for being an anchor in the windy and stormy sea that is my life. Help me to trust you and your Word even as it seems I shouldn’t. Help me to build my life on what will last.
But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does.
We know of nothing in creation which is truly immutable.
Even the sun coming up in the morning changes - and not just from Daylight Savings time! Both the earth's and the sun's rotations are slowing over time. The sun will eventually go out and the earth will stop spinning, but it is not expected soon. The actual length of earth days are being extended about 2.3 milliseconds (added to the nominal 24 hour day) every 100 years.
History proves our mutability in that we are constantly changing.
Fashions and trends are a way of life - if something remains relevant for a decade, it’s rare. But the historical account of Abraham and the birth of the nation Israel has been relevant for 3500 years.
Abraham lived about 4000 years ago and is considered the father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam - which together includes over half the world population as followers today. We learn about Abraham in the Christian Old Testament and the Jewish Tanakh, which are very similar. Islam refers to Ibrahim 69 times in the Quran, with a number of those accounts tracking the Christian record. The Christian New Testament (written around 2000 years ago) describes Jesus as the expected Messiah, fulfilling the covenant which God made with Abraham 2000 years previously. Islam views Jesus as Messiah as well, though not the son of God. Thus Abraham and Jesus remain key historical and theological figures, even after multiple millenia.
"Rock of Ages" - Augustus Toplady
"While I draw this fleeting breath,
When my eyes shall close in death,
When I rise to worlds unknown,
And behold Thee on Thy throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee." - Last verse