Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


10.25.2007  

Promises, Promises

2 Corinthians 1:20
For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us.

Paul's words refer unflinchingly to Jesus in this verse. "In Him," Paul says, "in Him." Throughout this entire letter to the Corinthian church, Paul returns again and again to one foundation: Christ. Indeed, not just this letter, but all of his letters center on the Savior. Now, it might be asserted that this is something unique to Paul, but it's not. All of the other Apostles write with the same focus, for all write with the aim to leave, in some way, their readers with grace and peace. Yet, can we limit this focus? Hardly, for the very point Paul makes in this verse is to point to Christ as the fulfillment of all God's promises, numerous and unmeasurable and breathtaking as they may be.

I'll be honest. This is a hard verse to swallow, let alone chew on. Some speak of passages in the book of Hebrews, the infamous "warning passages," as being fearful. Still, it's a verse like this that causes me to want to turn away in shame.

How can this be true?

God promises to forgive me. God promises never to leave me nor forsake me. God promises that all things work for my good, not just someone else's good. God promises unashamed bliss with Him in heaven. God promises that He loves me just as He loves His precious Son, Jesus. God promises that He sees me with the righteousness of His perfect, glorious Son, Jesus. God promises an intimacy with Him that not even the angels in heaven can comprehend. God promises that I am a vessel for His Holy Spirit. God promises that I will never taste death. God promises that He delights in me because He sees in me the glory of His delightful Son, Jesus. God promises things that I cannot even begin to comprehend, yet He gives them freely, graciously, lovingly, because He sent His Son as a propitiation for my sin.

How can all of this be true?

God's promises are beautiful...beautiful! Yet, I freely confess that I have such a hard time believing them. Oh, surely, I believe them in my mind, but what can easily become a poison to my heart is gazing overly much upon my self, upon my sin. It is then, in practice, that God's promises can go from being the bright, blazing glory that lights my path to merely the flickering starlight obscured by the clouds of a lonely night. What is wonderful to know, in the midst of deepest darkness, is that God also promises to be faithful, even when my faith fails, even when I am unfaithful. Why? Because His Son is faithful, and His faith does not fail us.

posted by Bolo | 9:27 PM
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