A family at the church we attend celebrates March 14 (3-14) as “PI DAY.” They invite their neighbors to bake a pie and come join in a “pie social” at their place on that day, since the mathematical constant of the ratio of a circle to its diameter is always 3.14, which, since the mid-18th Century has been designated by Pi, the 16th letter of the Greek alphabet. Pi is taken from the first letter of the Greek word perimetros, meaning circumference. Pi is a mathematical constant, no matter the circle’s size. Being an irrational number, Pi cannot be experienced exactly as a fraction. Its decimal representation never ends and never settles into a permanent repeating pattern. It has been calculated to 10 trillion digits!
A number of people have attempted to memorize as many digits of Pi as they could. On March 21, 2015, Fajveer Meena, a 21-year-old student at VIT University in Vellore, India sat blind folded before a panel of judges and over 10 hours quoted 70,000 digits of Pi! In 2006, Akira Haraguchi (age 60), a mental health counselor, recited 100,000 decimal places for pi in 16 hours! (WHY!?)
Since Pi relates to circles, it is involved in many trigonometric and geometric formulae and occurs in the proofs of many equations defining the universe God created. Our amazing God created His universe and planet earth with such order and precision that we have the maths and sciences which are mere observations and utilization of that order. Besides Pi, we have many other constants that are used in formulae and calculations. Another such physical constant is Planck’s Constant ( h ) which relates to energy and frequency.
Since God’s creation is a reflection of who He is, we know that God is a God of order and precision and constancy. The Apostle Paul writes: “…since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made…” (Ro. 1: 20). What God made and how it operates reveals to us what God, the designer and creator, is like. Just as we have “physical constants” like Pi and Planck’s Constant, that can be counted on to always be the same, we have a God who never changes. He cannot be other than who He is. His written revelation, the Bible, confirms this. The Psalmist wrote: “You remain the same, and Your years will never end” (Psa. 102:27). And we read in Heb. 13:8 that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yes and forever.” We know that circumstances change, and people change. We can count on some people more than others, but we are all frail and fickle at some point and are either incapable of keeping or fail to keep our promises. That’s not the case with God. “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent (change His mind); Has He said, and will He not do it? or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Num. 23:19). “For as many as may be the promises of God, in Him they are yes…” (II Cor. 1:20. “Yet with respect to the promise of God, he (Abraham) did not waver in unbelief…being fully assured that what He had promised, He was able also to perform” (Ro. 4:20,21). “Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass” (I Thes. 5:24). “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; for He cannot deny Himself” (II Tim. 2:13).
Since we can always count on God to remain the same, we can also count on His revealed Word, the Bible, to be unchanging. Paul tells us that “All Scripture is inspired (God-breathed) by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3:16,17). The physical things God created are deteriorating, winding down, and growing old because of the curse God put on creation when Adam sinned in the Garden (Ro. 5:12), but God and His Word are unchanging, will never grow old and obsolete. “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever” (Isa. 40: 8 ).
God’s truths are absolute and unchanging. They don’t have to be “amended” to accommodate a changing culture! Just as there are physical constants which we can count on to never change, there are also “spiritual constants” which we can count on, in fact on which we can stake our eternal destiny. Jesus is just who He claimed to be: “The way, the truth and the life” (Jn. 14:6). He is the only “mediator between God and men” (I Tim. 5:6). And everyone who comes to Christ (being drawn by the Father), believing in His atoning work on their behalf, will not be turned away, but will be given eternal life (Jn. 6:37-40). Jesus Himself said, “For God so loved the world (you and me), that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life” (Jn. 3:16). That’s a promise you can count on. It comes from the Creator of the universe who never changes and would never deceive you, and who is willing and able to fulfill every promise to us. “For whoever will call upon the name of the LORD will be (not “might be”) saved!” (Ro. 10:13).
Have you called upon Him?
Forever His,
Pastor Dave
P.S. Maybe next March 14 (if the Lord tarries His coming), you can have a neighborhood “PI NIGHT” and talk about the Creator of physical and spiritual constants.
Wisdom of The Week 