Psalm 25
My wife and I just finished watching the PBS series, Downton Abbey (yes, I surrendered my ‘man’ card long ago, and yes, we were very late to the party). Two parallel worlds are portrayed in this series. The Earl of Grantham and his extended family live upstairs in the slowly dissolving world of Edwardian England in the early 20th century. The butler, housekeeper, valets, footmen, lady’s maids, cooks, and various servants live downstairs and serve at the pleasure of the upstairs family. We see glimpses into both worlds of typical family behavior – sibling rivalry, striving for affirmation and position, gossip, romance, despair, and defeat. One thread seems to tie the two worlds together: the dissolution of the known social order and the birth of a new way of being and doing.
In one way or another, all of us are experiencing the dissolution of one way of life and the birth of another. As believers, we are living in the in-between of Jesus’ announcement that the Kingdom of God is at hand and the full unveiling of the Kingdom at His return. As families, our lives are in constant change as children are born, raised, grow, move on, have children of their own and so on. Our communities change as businesses die, new businesses are born, new leaders emerge and old leaders retire.
In the constant change of life, we can hold on to one unchangeable truth-
“The Lord is good and upright; therefore He shows sinners the way. He leads the humble in what is right and teaches them His way.” (Psalm 25:8–9, HCSB)
God’s unchanging nature, His promise of guiding every step, His abundant forgiveness enable us to live with confidence, with assurance, even as the very world around us constantly changes.
WINSTON COMMUNITY BAPTIST CHURCH 