1-21-2016

Good Morning All!!   

        Hebrews 11:1; “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”

    Why??  Why do you have faith??  How you answer that question determines a lot about your life, your outlook and your contentment.  Why do you have faith?  This isn’t a question of how you got faith.  You received your faith because someone told you the wonderful story about Jesus.  It was probably a parent or a grandparent or maybe you remember that one truly special Sunday School teacher; someone told you and then the Spirit worked on your heart and moved you to faith.  The Spirit gave you the desire to trust in God’s promise of salvation and still does today.  The “how” of faith is really pretty easy but the “why” is a different story.

    Some people have faith in order to have a direction or a purpose.  They see the object of their faith as order in their life.  They seek out a purpose to act.  These people tend to be active in the church, always looking for something to do.  They also can tend to be worried.  They worry that they aren’t doing enough.  They worry that, with so much to do, they might be failing.  They tend to view life as a personal challenge from God to strive to “do better.”

    Some have faith in order to insure their future.  They see faith as the way of guaranteeing that they have eternal life.  These people are certain of their salvation and, in the end; God will reward them with eternity with Him.  When connected to the prior reason, this catches many Christians

    Both of these are valuable but they leave one strong reason for faith.  Faith gives you the hope for tomorrow but it also gives you peace for today.  We know, without any denial, that our eternal future is secured by the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Through the gift of Baptism we are guaranteed, with the Holy Spirit as a down payment, of our eternal salvation.  That is our assurance, since we know what promises God has kept for us in the past, we can look confidently to the future. 

    This confidence can aid us today as well.  We do not possess the world’s greatest retirement plan only; we have hope and comfort for today.  The worldly struggles of today will never overcome this promise.  Whatever we face has been defeated by Jesus; whatever the trial we will win because of Jesus.  We may not see the end but we know the end; it is an end with the victor’s crown placed on our heads with the eternal joy.  Nothing will ever destroy that.

Father of mercy, through your grace, we have salvation, we have purpose but above all we have peace.  Keep our hearts calm and our spirits uplifted.  Let us see your loving arm through all of our ordeals.  We know that you protect from all danger and comfort our ills.  Guard us with your angels that we may rest in peace with you.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret