Dec 14 — Malachi 3:6 God does not change — His standards haven’t shifted.

Published on December 14, 2025 at 8:00 AM

“For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”

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Thankful Heart  December 16, 2025


God never told His people to mix, blend, merge, or combine worship with the culture around them.

He consistently said the opposite.

Be separate.
Be different.
Be salt.
Be light.

That distinction was never about isolation... it was about identity. And this does not mean we create elaborate plays that teach our children a storyline Scripture never gives.
It does not mean we decorate our churches, homes, and hearts with symbols rooted in other systems and then baptize them with Christian language.
It does not mean we replace truth with tradition and call it harmless because it feels familiar.

This isn’t about gifts.
It isn’t about lights.
It isn’t even about trees.

It’s about replacement.

Every time we add something God never asked for, something else quietly loses its place.
Truth becomes background.
Obedience becomes optional.
Discernment fades.
And worship slowly shifts from devotion to decoration.

God never asked His people to make Him fit into culture.
He asked them to stand apart from it, so the world could clearly see the difference.

If the story we tell our children is shaped more by tradition than Scripture,
if the practices we defend are inherited rather than examined,
then we aren’t passing down faith, we’re passing down habit.

And habit, no matter how sincere, is not the same as holiness.

God has not changed.
His desire has always been the same:
a people set apart, devoted in heart, clear in worship, and unmixed in allegiance.

The question is not whether our intentions are good.
The question is whether our worship still reflects who He is? Or who we’ve slowly allowed ourselves to become.

Who

God is speaking to Israel after the exile, through the prophet Malachi.

  • These are not pagans.
  • These are not people without Scripture.
  • These are covenant people who had returned to the land, rebuilt
  • The temple, and restored religious life.

But something was deeply wrong.

What

God makes a declaration about His own nature:

“I do not change.”

This verse is not about comfort alone.
It is about accountability.

God is responding to a people who had begun to question His justice, minimize obedience, and redefine faithfulness according to convenience.

Where

Around 430 BC, long after the Babylonian exile.

  • Israel is back in the land.
  • The temple is functioning again.
  • Priests are active.
  • Sacrifices are being offered.

On the outside, it looks like restoration.

On the inside, corruption has returned.

When

Jerusalem — in the rebuilt temple system.

This is important because it means religion was present, but reverence was missing

Why

Because the people were saying (Malachi 2–3):

  • “Where is the God of justice?”
  • “Serving God is pointless.”
  • “What’s the harm in cutting corners?”
  • “Everyone else is doing it.”

And God responds by reminding them:

“I have not changed.
You are the ones who moved.”

“I have not changed.
You are the ones who moved.”

CULTURAL & HISTORICAL INSIGHT

Malachi’s generation believed something dangerous:

They assumed that time had softened God.

That exile had changed Him.
That restoration meant lowered standards.
That grace meant tolerance.

But Malachi 3:6 shatters that assumption.

God says the only reason Israel still exists is:
because He has not changed

not because they improved.

 

This verse is not God excusing disobedience.
It is God explaining why mercy still exists despite it.

HIDDEN TRUTH — Mercy Exists Because God Is Unchanging, Not Because We Are

This is the heart of the verse:

If God changed the way people change…
Israel would have been destroyed long ago.

Grace is not proof that standards disappeared. Grace is proof that God is faithful to His covenant, even when people are not.

This is why this verse belongs in December.

Because modern Christianity often assumes:

“If God still blesses us, He must approve.”

Malachi says the opposite:

“You still exist because I don’t change — not because you’re right.”

LORD — יְהוָה (YHWH)

The covenant Name of God.
The same God of Sinai, the prophets, exile, and restoration.

No rebrand.
No evolution.
No softening.

Do Not Change — לֹא שָׁנִיתִי (lo shaniti)

Meaning: to alter, shift, reverse, or modify.

God declares absolute consistency in:

  • character

  • holiness

  • justice

  • covenant expectations

Consumed — כָּלָה (kalah)

Means: to be destroyed, exhausted, brought to an end.

Israel’s survival is not proof of approval —
it is proof of restraint and mercy.

Children of Jacob

A reminder of identity.

God is not dealing with strangers.
He is addressing His people, bound by covenant.

Scripture Verse
Numbers 23:19 God does not change His mind like man
Psalm 102:27 You are the same, and Your years have no end
Isaiah 40:8 The word of the LORD stands forever
James 1:17 No shadow of turning
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever

Malachi 3:6 forces an uncomfortable question:

Have we mistaken God’s patience for permission?

If God has not changed:

  • His definition of holiness hasn’t changed

  • His boundaries haven’t changed

  • His expectations for worship haven’t changed

What has changed is culture, and too often, the church moved with it. December exposes this more than any other month.

Lights, traditions, habits, customs, calendars


Many inherited without ever asking:

“Is this rooted in God… or in culture?”

God’s mercy gives us time to return. It does not give us license to redefine truth.

The message is unified:
God does not evolve with culture.
People drift.

Abba,
Forgive us for assuming time has changed You.
Forgive us for calling compromise “grace”
and comfort “freedom.”

You have not changed —
but we have wandered.

Thank You that Your mercy restrained judgment.
Thank You that covenant still stands.

Teach us to return, not rewrite.
To repent, not justify.
To obey, not explain away.

Let us align ourselves with You again,
not ask You to align with us.

You are the same.
Help us live like we believe that.

Amen.

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