Good morning everyone:
In the next four years there will be good-paying jobs for everyone. A college education will be free. America will be great again. Our borders will be secure. Terrorism will be defeated. Healthcare will be affordable and available to all. We have heard all these promises and many more over and over again. So are you relieved and excited for the future? Are you already making plans for what you will do when all these promises become reality? Hardly. We know better. There is a problem with promises. No matter how grand and far-reaching they are, they’re useless and misleading unless there is the will and the strength to back them up. It’s hard to get excited and count on things so unreliable and uncertain.
Some people treat God’s promises the same way. They don’t get excited. They don’t think and live as though they are actually going to be fulfilled. But that’s a mistake. God’s promises are on a completely different plane from those of candidates for public office. God’s promises are far greater and more reliable than those of any human being. He told our first parents that in spite of their sin, He would not abandon them and their descendants to eternal death. Instead, He promised the Seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head. In the fullness of time He kept His word. He sent His only-begotten Son to be mankind’s substitute under the law and to be the Lamb of God who would sacrifice Himself on the cross in payment for the sins of all. Jesus promises that He will come again to bring earth’s history to a close and to raise all who believe in Him to eternal life in Paradise.
That’s not all. In your daily Bible reading for the next week keep track of all the promises the Lord makes. He assures you that He will never leave you or forsake you. In an uncertain political climate His promise that He is always directing events for the benefit of His Church is priceless. His invitation to call upon Him in the day of trouble comes with an ironclad guarantee that He will deliver you. No matter what happens, hold on with all your might to His promise that nothing can separate you from His love. When it seems as though life’s circumstances are just too hard to bear, remember what His Word says: “God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it” (1 Cor. 10:13).
It’s not just political candidates, we, too, fall short in keeping our word. We often lack the will and the strength to live up to our promises made to God and to those around us. But the Lord’s faithfulness is perfect. His forgiveness is an accomplished fact. “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful, for he cannot disown himself” (2 Tim. 2:13). “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ” (2 Cor. 1:20).
Let the promises of our loving Lord relieve your anxiety. Don’t hesitate to get excited. Confidently plan for an eternal future with Him.
In tomorrow’s sermon text (Deut. 10:12-22) Moses encourages God’s people to respond with love and obedience to God’s gifts of grace.
The adult Bible class will continue its discussion of Christian parenting.
The quarterly voters meeting will get underway after second service, about 12 p.m.
Yours in Christ,
Pastor
