“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). I have been working through the book of Hebrews in my morning devotions and today, as I read through the final chapter of the book, this verse struck me as poignantly applicable.
Considering the context of the world around us, I once again remind myself that I am very blessed and that so far, I have been sheltered and kept safe through this uncertain time. Even as I was sent home to Michigan after my college transitioned into online classes, the most pressing impact this had on my life was social inconvenience, not medical danger or increased occupational hazard. God has been overwhelmingly faithful to me in this time.
As I eased back into life at home, unpacking my clothes, hanging my pictures, setting up a workspace in my room, I began to feel restless. I’m struggling to think of a more specific word that applies to how I felt but restless, or maybe “unmoored”, might be the best I can think of. Despite trying to do my best to maintain perspective, I had to recognize that I was feeling restless and unmoored, or anchorless, in this time and I knew that in recognizing this I had to try to confront the source of the concern.
When I am at school, I have a full day and follow a detailed routine to make sure that I can get everything done. I didn’t realize that I was Type-A until I thought that scheduling times in your calendar to eat and sleep just might not be normal. Coming home this schedule, obviously, has had to readjust drastically. For the first few days back in my old setting, not at school, I milled about, unproductive for the most part. I watched a LOT of Netflix. I wasn’t completely a sloth, thankfully–I organized my bookshelves, wrote some letters, and read a book I had been meaning to get to. But something felt off and I couldn’t put my finger on it. Then over the weekend I realized that I simply needed a routine. Not so much because I wanted to be “in control” but because as a person I am someone who desires order. I just have to be careful of where I look for that order: in something of my own creation, or in the faithfulness of God?
Yesterday, I finally sat down and laid out a daily routine, blocking out my time and days in much the same way that I do at school, but this time with some more hesitation. “Am I just a slave to my schedule?” I asked myself. Ultimately, I decided that (at my best) I am not. But in order for me to be at my best, I require a routine. At my worst, my schedule controls me. At my best I remind myself that God controls my time, that it does and always has belonged to Him.
Sitting down this morning with my coffee and Bible, reading Hebrews 13, God spoke to me through His Word. I don’t know why we’re always surprised when He does that (or at least, I tend to be). “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” What a beautiful promise that is. I felt unmoored not because I didn’t have a schedule, but because I wasn’t properly leaning into the promises of Christ’s constancy. In all things He is the same. In all things, He is good.
I would encourage you today to read the rest of Hebrews 13–even the entire book. It is a chapter (and book) filled with convicting challenges, powerful encouragement, and deep spiritual truth. But for now, I want to leave you with the benediction found at the end of Hebrews:
“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” Hebrews 13: 20-21