Promises

Oct. 30

Read Titus 1

Promises

“…in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began…”

Our hope is in “eternal life”:

To be a child of God is to live forever. We have life here and now - a gift from the Lord - and we rejoice and embrace it. (Col. 1:17, Acts 17:25) There is reason to be hopeful Now! We also have life if/when our souls go to heaven to await the resurrection from the dead. (Luke 16:22, 23:43) This is a rich time of rest and happiness as we are present with the Lord in even greater ways than we are now. Someday - at the resurrection - we will rise again as Jesus did and enter into life on the new earth. (Rev. 21, 1 Cor. 15) This is our “LIFE in Christ''. This is our HOPE. As Christians, we will live forever… God has promised it.

God promises this, and “he never lies”:

God doesn’t lie. Lying is from the devil. The devil is “the father of lies”. (John 8:44) All lying and deception can be traced back to the enemy in one way or another. It is his defining characteristic - his lying. In the same way TRUTH is the defining characteristic of God. Truth and trustworthiness. God always keeps his promise, and here - the promise is ETERNAL LIFE. We have all experienced so many broken promises that it is hard to imagine this sort of trustworthiness. Ask the father to “help you with your unbelief”. (cf. Mark 9:24)

“Promised before the ages began”:

You are part of something BIG. Something cosmic. Something that stretches beyond our own time and space. God made these promises to us “before the ages began”. That is when the agreement was made… the gift of eternal life was given “before the ages began”. God was thinking about this world, his “good works” in it, and his people before he ever even created this world! You are part of THIS work. You are part of this sort of plan. No matter how crazy these current times may seem… think about how miniscule they are compared to the bigger perspective. We need to have an ETERNAL perspective to function correctly in this world.

These are crucial ideas for us as we face the fear and uncertainty around us. They are critical ideas as we wrestle with our own “mortality” and “earthly death”. If we think that our earthly death can rob us of our eternal life in Christ - then we will scramble to hold onto this life in unhealthy ways… we will become distracted from the “cosmic” work God has for us. God is worthy of trust… he never lies. This means that the one who “began a good work in you” will complete it. (Phil. 1:6) It means that the Lord will never “leave us or forsake us”. (Deut. 31:8, Rom. 8:37-39) It means that we have not been “left as orphans' '. (John 14:18) It can be scary to lean into these truths… to trust God’s words to us. It never works out the way we expect… alright… maybe “never” is too strong a word… but RARELY does it unfold the way we expect. This is why we need each other to have “eyes to see and ears to hear '' for each other as we spoke about yesterday. All of these ideas are all linked together. This “hope of eternal life” is the hope of BETTER DAYS AHEAD… no matter what. As Lewis put it, “There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind.” Love you guys. - JDP