Real And Reliable

Perfection is not to be found in circumstances or other people.  It is to be found in God’s love and in our response to his love.  

In 2 Chronicles, Chapter 16, verse 9,  God promises to “show himself powerful on behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards him.”  In Isaiah, Chapter 6, God promises to “keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed on him.”  In the epistle of 1st John, Chapter 3, John writes that “perfect love casts out fear.”  

So, through our faith, we aspire to perfect hearts, perfect peace, and perfect love.  Then we are free to accept circumstances and people as we find them, not as we would have them.

Do circumstances and people change?  Certainly they do, but sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse.  Our hopes and faith cannot be anchored to such unreliable bellwethers of blessings.

However, if our hopes and faith are solely in Christ and in the abundant life, the eternal life, and the blessed life that he promises, we are on solid ground indeed.  

It’s a little scary at first, stepping out into the unknown based only on his word, but, as we progress, his word becomes more real and reliable than anything that our eyes can behold.

Going back to his promises to “show himself powerful on our behalf”, to “keep us in perfect peace,” and to show us that his “perfect love casts out fear,” we must ask ourselves, “Do we want God to show himself powerful on our behalf, to keep us in perfect peace, and to cast out all of our fears?”

 If we do, it hearkens us back to Christ and surrendering our lives into his care.  He has been in our shoes and knows how this world works.  We are wise if we choose to follow him instead of our own desires, for we don’t have to live long in this world to realize how limited is our strength and understanding without God.  

Faith in Christ is not weakness; it is the ultimate strength.  It is not the illusion of the hapless and the hopeless; it is truth itself.

~ Brad Heilhecker