Certainty in Christ

These past few months the new “buzzword” or phrase has been “in these uncertain times.” It has been used with such frequency that it has begun to move into the realm of mockery and jokes. Not in a facetious way, just in the sense that in every time you see or read it, though the description be apt, it begins to illicit a small chuckle or eye roll.
       And yet, what other phrase better fits what we are going through? We truly are living in a time when there are a plethora of uncertainties and unknowns.
       We are facing trials and challenges that are brand new to our present culture and society. Many of us have questions that remain unanswered. It seems that nearly every aspect of daily life has been uprooted from what we previously called “normal.”
       And yet in these uncertain times, there is something to be certain of: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever,” (Heb.13:8) and our faith and trust in him is never misplaced.
       Hebrews 11 is sometimes referred to as the “by faith” chapter or the “heroes of faith.” The author opens with these words: “Now faith is confidence in what we do not see.” Some translations even read that faith is being certain of what we do not see!
       What are we hoping for? Right now we might be hoping for a reliable treatment for strains of this virus. We may be hoping for restrictions to be lifted. Perhaps we are hoping for reunions with family and friends long unseen.
       The problem in those hopes is that their fruition lies in human hands. Those hopes do not come with certainty.
       But we have certainty in the hope of our life in Christ, who is Hope personified. Through him we have hope of salvation and a promise of eternal life. Though we are not able to physically see Jesus, just like the biblical figureheads mentioned in Hebrews 11, we have certainty and hope in our resurrected Savior!
       Hope, faith and trust in Christ comes with another blessing – peace. The apostle Paul writes about this gift in the book of Romans 5:18: “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
       May we join with Paul in boasting of the hope we have in the glory of God the Father! May we rest in the assurance that the Holy Spirit has been given to us as a helper. May we rejoice in the grace given to us by our unchanging Savior.
       In these “uncertain times,” I pray you recall and rely on the certainty found only in Christ.