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Thursday, March 6
... through which you are saved, if you hold rmly to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain (1 Corinthians 15:2)
While I was writing this Lenten guide, our rst grandchild was born. Watching my son hold his daughter was a moment I'll never forget. She will always be his child, even as he will always be mine. My sons have been my children from the moment of their conception. No matter what they do or how they feel about me, they cannot undo their birth. Once we are born to our parents, we cannot be "unborn." We will belong to them forever.
It is the same with our heavenly Father. Once we are "born again" as his children (John 3:3), we cannot be "unborn." If you have made the risen Christ your Lord, he has forgiven your sins and given you eternal life. His Father is now your Father, forever.
The best advice I've ever received what this simple maxim: "Always remember the source of your personal worth." Do you nd worth today in your possessions, popularity, or performance? Or in God's eternal love for you?
What God's word means
Paul's readers are saved ("are continually being rescued, kept from harm") by the grace which the gospel proclaims. However, they must hold rmly ("claim, continue to hold") to this word I preached to you. Otherwise, they believed in vain ("without due consideration").
The apostle did not mean that faith earns our salvation. Rather, our faith positions us to receive what grace alone can give: "by grace you have been saved through faith" (Ephesians 2:8). Nor did he mean that true Christians can lose their salvation. If we do not continue to hold rmly to our faith, such a lapse indicates that our commitment was never genuine. Like the "foolish man" who heard God's word but did not respond to it by faith, our house will fall when tested by the storms of life (Matthew 7:26-27; cf. 1 John 2:19).
Why Easter matters
I became a Christian in 1973. Across more than four decades, I have asked many hard questions about Christianity: how can a good God allow evil and su ering? What happens to those who never hear the gospel? How do science and Scripture relate? But I have continued to believe that God is real and that I am his child.
It is not that I have held onto Jesus. Rather, the risen Christ has held onto me: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand" (John 10:28-29). If Jesus had not risen from the dead, I would be following a dead man rather than trusting a living Lord. My relationship with him would be based entirely on my performance rather than his power. Because he rose from the dead, he is able to intercede for me (Romans 8:34) and empower me with his presence today (Matthew 28:20).
How to respond
Can you remember a time when you asked Jesus to forgive your sins and become your Lord? If so, claim the fact that "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come" (2 Corinthians 5:17). If not, ask Jesus to forgive you and make you God's child.
Because of Easter, the risen Christ can hear our prayers and give us eternal life. His love for you provides a personal worth that nothing in this world can match. Ten thousand millennia after the mountains have vanished and the stars have vaporized, your life in heaven will have only begun. The saints of the ages and the angels of all eternity are already praising him. Have you joined them today?
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