In mid-December, the Silicon Alley Insider (www.businessinsider.com) published a list of 21 things that became obsolete this past decade. Take a second to see if you can guess a few of them…

Many of those things had to do with telephones. Home land lines, public pay phones, phone books and the 411 service all virtually disappeared this last decade. There were a number of major changes in the computing world too. Email accounts that had to be paid for have disappeared. Dial up service is non-existent. We no longer back up data on floppies or CDs. And speaking of CDs, we don’t buy them anymore. Music is just downloaded from the web.

Paper, record stores and movie rental places are all on the way out. No one gets film developed anymore and there are no more newspaper classifieds to speak of. VCRs, fax machines and bills sent through the mail are fading fast.

While it is fun to consider all the things that are becoming non-existent, I think it is more interesting to list some things that will never fade away. Let me take a stab at a list of spiritual things that will not disappear in the next decade or eon for that matter. I think reviewing that list can be very affirming for the committed believer.

I am utterly convinced that God will continue to be worshiped in spirit and in truth. I know that His precious word will be consulted, memorized and meditated upon. And when it is, those truths will continue to change lives.

I am certain of God’s love, His provision, His standards and His sovereignty.

I am confident that Jesus Christ will forever be exalted as Lord and Savior. I am certain that the gospel, the good news of Christ’s substitutionary death, burial and resurrection will be taught with power and compassion all around the world. And when that message is understood and embraced, it will set eternity in the hearts of men and women.

Time will march on. Gadgets and appliances will have their day and then be casually discarded. Our lives will continue to be impacted by faster and smarter electronics. Personal boundaries will all but disappear with all the social networking. The world will continue to shrink. Cultural distinctives will continue to blur. Lots and lots of things will change in our life time.

But this week, you and I can be confident that God is still in control. His will continues to dictate the affairs of men and nations. And we know at least one thing that will NEVER change…”The grass withers and the flowers fall. But the word of God stands forever.” (Isa. 40:8).