There is something committing in speaking aloud our beliefs. “If you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9). It matters little if there is no other human being on hand to witness; God hears us. Once spoken the die is cast. We may renege many times on the follow through, but the commitment remains solid in the eyes of the Lord. Well acquainted with our failings, he knows that he has no perfect specimen to deal with. His job is to fashion us into the likeness of his son (Romans 8 :29) whether we co-operate fully or not. Having once tied our colours to the mast of his ship, we remain under his command, a member of his crew.
Trusting God for this task should be easy. Did he not do a perfect job in Jesus? Were his early disciples any harder than we are to convert? Whatever ground we offer to the Lord he will occupy fully. There are no half measures with him. Sometimes we may feel that way when we cannot summon any awareness of his presence. Jesus too went through such a time: “My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) were the coldest words spoken at his crucifixion. And yet he, of all people, knew that God was anywhere but absent.
We need only to appear at his gates, so to speak, in order to enter his fortress and refuge (above). There are no other requirements. Who of us would turn a child away from our safekeeping because of bad behaviour, for instance? The story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) features the Lord rushing to meet his wayward son. No hint of retribution for the squandering of the inheritance. “Was lost.” “Now found”. End of story.
So it is with us. We can enter his fortress at any time. There is no chance that the drawbridge won’t be down waiting.
Barry Struthers
Trusting God for this task should be easy. Did he not do a perfect job in Jesus? Were his early disciples any harder than we are to convert? Whatever ground we offer to the Lord he will occupy fully. There are no half measures with him. Sometimes we may feel that way when we cannot summon any awareness of his presence. Jesus too went through such a time: “My God, my God. Why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34) were the coldest words spoken at his crucifixion. And yet he, of all people, knew that God was anywhere but absent.
We need only to appear at his gates, so to speak, in order to enter his fortress and refuge (above). There are no other requirements. Who of us would turn a child away from our safekeeping because of bad behaviour, for instance? The story of the prodigal son (Luke 15) features the Lord rushing to meet his wayward son. No hint of retribution for the squandering of the inheritance. “Was lost.” “Now found”. End of story.
So it is with us. We can enter his fortress at any time. There is no chance that the drawbridge won’t be down waiting.
Barry Struthers
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