Lando

Have you ever been in a situation where you were following the “rules,” then someone came along who was allowed by those in charge to do something you, yourself, wouldn’t be allowed to do? It has happened to me many times, being on both sides of that situation.

When you are the person coming in and getting an exception on how things are done, you feel grateful, but also somewhat self-confident that you earned it. I remember working in Wisconsin when my boss asked a couple of guys in the department and me if we wanted to sneak out and play a round of golf. He explained that, even though we were supposed to be working, this was a reward for our recent hard work. Of course, I said yes, and ran home to change and get my clubs.

On the contrary, being on the other side isn’t fun at all. I asked a different boss a few years later if I could take vacation days on a Friday and the following Monday to fly to visit my friend who was in a hospital dying of cancer. The boss replied that I could take one of the two days off, but I didn’t deserve to take both days (I would describe him with a word that rhymes with tick). However, a co-worker was later granted vacation for both of those same days. As you might imagine, I was furious and believed there was favoritism and that, overall, it wasn’t fair. However, as the boss of the department, he had the right to approve vacation days and was within his rights not to allow me to take both days of vacation. He only lasted a couple of years in that role as boss.

In our human relationships, these kinds of situations happen. In fact, as a former boss myself, I reserved the right to make exceptions based on my perceived value and my employees' needs, within reason (obviously I had to make sure I didn’t discriminate and so forth).

In the movie, “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” Lando, the leader of the mining colony, betrayed Han to the Empire to avoid getting taken over. He understood the Empire was trying to find Luke and didn’t really care about Han and his cohorts. As the Empire was about to get Luke, Darth Vader turned Han over to the bounty hunter and violated the agreement with Lando. When Lando complained, Darth Vader replied, “Pray I don’t alter the agreement further.” Obviously, Darth Vader, being in a position of higher leverage in the agreement, didn’t feel the need to keep his word.

Where am I going with this? I was thinking how insecure I would be if God could change based on a whim. What if I was saved today but tomorrow God decided I didn’t deserve it?

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” - John 10:27-30 ESV

“In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” - Ephesians 1:11-14

“God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” - Numbers 23:19

Praise God, He never changes!