Blessed Assurance!

I would hate to be a weatherman here in El Salvador since announcing it is going to rain this evening is like saying the sun is going to come up today.  It is the rainy season here, which usually means the humidity builds up during the day and it rains just about every evening; sometimes lighter, sometimes heavier, and often with great flashes of lightening and loud rolling thunder.  I love it.  It is so predictable that the Salvadorans have a common saying, “Here comes the water!”  There is a certain sense of assurance and certainty in that statement.

In the same way, as Christians we have assurance in God’s sovereignty in this world.  Paul writes in Ephesians 1:18-21,

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

I believe that often people who do not understand God’s great redemptive plan for humanity mistake this sense of assurance for arrogance, or a cockiness in Christians that evokes a very negative reaction.  As Christians, we need to be aware of this when sharing our convictions with others.  Being aware means that we can share with humility and compassion, while firmly holding to the truth we have through God’s Word in the Bible.  We need not retreat into a defensive stance, as can happen so easily in these days of political correctness.  If we are true Christians, then we believe that Christ is who He claimed to be in his conversation with the Samaritan woman (Mark 4: 25-26):

“The woman said, ‘I know that Messiah’ (called Christ) ‘is coming. When he comes, he will explain everything to us.’  Then Jesus declared, ‘I, the one speaking to you—I am he.”

If we accept that Christ is the Messiah, and that the Bible is God’s Word, we must also accept His sovereignty as given to Him by God.  He has “all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

In my own life I have had to come face to face with this reality and ask myself, “Do I really believe that Christ has authority over everything that happens in my life and the life of others?”  Thankfully, God provided those assurances to us through the Bible, and the knowledge of the Holy Spirit.  There is a sense of certainty and peace in accepting that promise, and knowing that no matter what happens, God is ultimately in charge.

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