Permanent

Women of the world owe a great debt to Charles Nestle and it has absolutely nothing to do with chocolate! Nestle was the German-born hairstylist who was determined to perfect a wave that could properly be called permanent.

In his first experiment, he baked off all but one lock of a woman’s head. But Nestle was jubilant--the one lock curled, permanently! His perfected process used a chemical solution and took six hours. It would change the entire hairdressing industry.

But permanents are not permanent. A hairdresser friend explained to me sometime ago that they will last from a few days to perhaps three months, according to the texture of the hair and how “tight” the hair is wound. How can anything that lasts just three months be called “permanent?” Seems to me there are other things in life that beg the same question.

How many permanent addresses have you had in your lifetime? According to my calculations, Teresa and I have had at least seven in our thirty-seven plus years of marriage. The forms we fill out for tax, census, and other purposes always call for a permanent address, but the reality is that no such place exists in this world!

Then, there are those folks with permanent disabilities. You know what I am talking about, don’t you? Following a “terrible” injury and seemingly endless litigation with the government, a monthly stipend is awarded for a bad back. Amazingly, a few months later the individual is seen lifting eighty-pound sacks of flour into the bed of a truck! A miracle? Hardly. In our society, for many at least, permanent injuries are simply not permanent.

I could go on, but I think you get my point. Almost all of the things that we call permanent in our world are, in reality, temporary at best. And yet our souls cry out for something that is lasting, something rock solid that does not change with the changing times. Something to which we can anchor ourselves during the storms of life. The good news is that something of such permanence exists! The prophet Isaiah said it best, “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever” (40:8).

God’s word is permanent. His truth has always existed and always will. You won’t wake up tomorrow and find that the rules are different. In a capricious, constantly changing world, I take great comfort in this reality. In fact, I have anchored my soul to the Christ of this immutable Word. As we celebrate His resurrection this Lord's Day, it is my prayer that you have, too.

-----Phil LeMaster