I have not written lately, as life has been rather crazy. But I wanted to share something with you this week.
As of late, I have been struggling some. Birthdays have never really bothered me. However, this year, as I approach a “milestone” year, I have been taking stock of where I have been, where I am, and where I am going. I look back, and I see a lot of failures and missed opportunities. I look at the present, and it does not look the way that I thought it would. I look to the future, and it is filled with uncertainty. It is easy to be pulled into a feeling of hopelessness and despair.
Then, I open God’s Word and I read:
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, ‘For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.’ No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:31-39
My past, present, and future is cradled within the arms of the eternal God, Who has purchased me for Himself with the very life of His Son. That Son, Jesus, now risen, ascended, and reigning at the right hand of the Father, intercedes for me before the throne of God. God is for me! Who can be against me? He has promised that there is absolutely nothing that can separate me from the love of God in Christ. I am secure. My future is secure.
However, the brokenness of the past, the struggle of the present, and the uncertainty of what lies ahead is still before my eyes. It taunts me and my enemy jeers at me and tells me to give up hope. And yet, if I look closely, the broken pieces of the past have begun to be assembled into something I did not expect. It was not what I had foreseen or planned, but it has become the foundation of many of the blessings and opportunities that I have today. And it has been assembled by the loving and sovereign hands of my God.
The picture is not yet complete. I still see broken pieces lying around. But in the same way God crafted something amazing out my broken pieces of the past, He will do the same the pieces of the present. And the future that is unclear, can become a masterpiece of God. It might not look like what I envisioned, but it will be better, because it will be created by God.
For me, His call is the same. He calls me to trust Him, just as I did in the beginning, when I gave my life to Him. Every day, I must give myself to Him and trust that He will accomplish His purpose in my life, my family, my church, my community, and my world – one piece at a time. God is on His throne. I am His son. I am secure in Christ. And there is absolutely nothing that can separate me from Him. That promise alone is enough to smile at the future, no matter what comes my way. This future is yours as well, if you will place yourself in the hands of God, through Jesus Christ.
Together for His glory…