As always, here’s my fairly literal translation of these verses:
23May
the God of peace Himself sanctify you [to be] complete, and may [the] whole of
you – the spirit and the soul and the body – be kept blamelessly in the Coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24The One calling you [is] faithful, who
will also accomplish it.
One last thought before I leave these two verses. I want to
pause and think about v24, “The One calling you [is] faithful, who will also
accomplish it.”
Faithful. The faithfulness of God. Great is Thy
faithfulness.
It’s easy to read those words, to say them, to even sing
them, yet not stop to ponder their enormity. I think perhaps early in my
Christian life, I thought it really was all about my faithfulness. Somehow God was just there and I was over here
trying to somehow become this faithful follower of Jesus. The big battle was
whether I would or would not be faithful today, or even in knowing what that meant
today. Of course I failed miserably.
But as I have studied the Bible and struggled through the
issues of life, I have come more and more to see that it’s all about Him. The big issue in my life is not
whether I am or have been or will be faithful. The big issue is that He is. Ah, Blessed assurance, Jesus is
mine.
One of the verses that helped me the most to finally turn
the corner was Psalm 112:7, “A good man will have no fear of bad news; his
heart is steadfast, confident in the Lord.” “Confident in the Lord.”
“Confident in the Lord.” “The One calling you [is] faithful,
who will also accomplish it.”
Our good God is wisely, kindly, and omnipotently ruling this
world in which we live. He was for all the thousands of years before I was born
and He will continue long after I’m gone. I’m alive today not because anything
is really “up to me,” but because He has a great eternal plan and at least for
today has allowed me to be a part of it. He will succeed whether I do or not.
Truly knowing Him, being confident in Him, brings to my
world peace. It brings quiet and confidence. It brings the completeness of
knowing “All is well.” And in that peace, I can truly love and be kind and even
… be faithful. As I go out to my work today, I don’t know what I’ll face. I don’t
know what will go “wrong.” I don’t know what people will say, what they will
expect, how they’ll treat me. I know already I’ll find it physically
challenging – the older I get the less and less energy I have to deal with it
all. Most of the time I really don’t even find myself smart enough. Most of the
time my job calls for someone far more clever than me. So, given all of that,
what am I to do? Go. How? Confident in the Lord. I just need to go, confident
in Him. It’s true I don’t know. It’s true I’m barely able physically. It’s true
I’m not clever enough. But He is. And He will help me. So I can. I can go in
peace. I can love. I can be faithful. Because He is.
I might die. But “My times are in His hands.” I honestly can
say I just hope I die confident in Him. Whatever that means, when it means it.
I am so thankful for Jesus, for this saving, redeeming God
who not only rescues us from hell, but gives us peace.
I so wish the whole world could realize how wonderful He is,
what it’s like to live in a world ruled by my kind, wise Father. To live in
peace.
I’m so thankful that we can live all day every day in this blessed
assurance.
“The One calling you [is] faithful, who will also accomplish
it.”
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