Clinging to Promises
When my wife gave me my wedding ring on November 16, 1996, she wisely had engraved our anniversary date inside the 10K gold band. I could never forget this beautiful and momentous day. In her wisdom, she was able to look beyond the emotion of the day and recognize the common and normal tendencies of men who’ve fallen into the rhythm and routine of life. What she didn’t account for was my ability to avoid losing the ring after several years!
In a similar way, God has engraved in Scripture a warning for us to remember the message of the Gospel so that we don’t neglect or drift away from it. This warning, written to Christians, found in Hebrews 2:1-4 is a scary thought. Is it really possible that I could drift away or forget what God has done for me?
The emotion of the life changing experience in the great exchange of my soul brought me from death to life. My now and tomorrow have forever been impacted by the pure and simple message of the Gospel. Like my wife, God is able to look beyond the emotion of the day and recognize the common and normal tendencies of men who’ve fallen into the rhythm and routine of life.
As believers, we can be tempted by pride, selfishness, or sin that cause us to neglect the Gospel. With the best of intentions we can devote more time and energy to debating the ancillary topics of the Bible and lose sight of our mission to share the Gospel. We can risk being trapped by the rat race of life that we repeatedly choose to rest our eyes on Sunday and neglect the rest found in corporate worship. We may have the best of intentions to engage our culture and find ourselves swept in the culture of paganism, idolatry, or pursuing pleasure. Any and all of these scenarios play out every day in the lives of believers. We drift. We forget.
To avoid this, we must cling to the promises of God. We must routinely share our story of giving our life to Jesus with others. We must regularly soak in Scripture as the Spirit of God speaks and teaches us. We must surround ourselves with the message of the Gospel. Filter what we hear with what God has said in His Word.
I am proud to say that I have never forgotten a wedding anniversary. I am ashamed to say that there have been days in my life where I have been distracted from the Gospel or been tempted to dilute the message of the Gospel. We must be on guard. We must be vigilant. We must cling tightly to Christ and hold fast to the Gospel.
