The sign in the jewelry store window simply read “Timeless.” It’s elegant romantic script
beckoned shoppers to gaze upon the beauty of the diamonds. And they were beautiful. The product of long arduous hand labor they grabbed the light and threw it forward in the multi-colored brilliance of the rainbow. I stared in appreciation of something so captivating and valuable.
The beauty of the diamond never grows old. It has been treasured since antiquity. It is timeless. One of my favorite authors is John Flavel. He was a Non Conformist minister in Dartmouth, England in the mid 1600’s. His writings are a thing of biblical beauty. His passion for the Scriptures is evidenced in the crafting of his words.
Flavel wrote, “Mercy is sweet in the promise, and much more so in the providential performance of it to us.” The Mystery of Providence; Flavel, John 1678. In the Old Testament Scriptures are the promises of a coming Savior, one who would be the redeemer of many. God would show His mercy to His elect. It would be sweetness in the mouths of His ekklesia, His “called out ones.”
The writing of Flavel is timeless because it is founded in the timelessness of the Word of God. God exists outside the boundaries of space and time. His words are truth and they speak to us beyond the passing of time. We are robbing ourselves of an immense blessing by not reading the writings of those who have gone before us. Writers like Flavel are as relevant today as they were in their lifetime when their message is locked to the foundation of God’s eternalness.
A great problem today in American Christianity is that we like to learn how to be relevant to our culture instead of how relevant the Word of God is to our spiritual condition. The timelessness of the Scriptures is its message. When we stop proclaiming the message we cease to be timeless.
