November 2015

“I pinky swear.” I do solemnly
swear...” “I vow to…” “I guarantee…”
Oaths. Assurances.
Pledges. We make them all the
time. Do we keep them? In our
broken sinful state, probably not
every time. It’s likely we have
broken a promise or two. It’s also
likely others have broken promises
made to us.
This may make it hard to put any
weight into promises. Are they
merely words with no special
meaning? Coming from humans,
it’s possible this is all they are.
Coming from God, promises
have unparalleled power. His
promises should make us stand
up and take notice. His promises
are rock-solid foundations on
which we can build. God’s promises
are never changed, never
retracted, and never broken. We
can trust Him to deliver on every
single promise he has made to
us.
What are these promises? God’s
Word is filled with them. Let’s
take a look at five which, combined,
touch on every facet of
our lives. God tells us:
Promise #1: “I love you no
matter what.”
“But God shows his love for us in
that while we were still sinners,
Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation
for those who are in
Christ Jesus.” Romans 8:1
“Neither death nor life, neither
angels nor demons, neither the
present nor the future, nor any
powers, neither height nor depth,
nor anything else in all creation,
will be able to separate us from
the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-
39
If this doesn’t get our fire going,
our wood must be wet. Nothing
we can do can separate us
from God’s love. Nothing? Yes,
nothing. The worst sin we can
imagine holds miniscule weight
compared to the mighty power
of God’s love. We can run away
all we want, fight his calling all
we want, commit all the atrocious
acts we want, and God’s
love is never swayed. We can
fail in every category we set up
for ourselves, but we can never
make God fail. His love remains
steady through it all.
We can refuse to accept God’s
love. We can try to hide, turn
away, or turn it down. This does
not diminish God’s love in any
way. He does not change. We
do. Just because we refuse to
accept it, doesn’t mean it’s not
there. Jesus still stands at the
door knocking, just waiting for us
to let him in. He wants to forgive
us and have a relationship with
us. But, he already loves us from
the other side of the door, even if
we never let Him in. Nothing can
separate us from His love. Nothing.
If only we could truly grasp the
depths of this amazing love. It
can transform our lives. This is
why Paul prayed for the Ephesians:
“And I pray that you,
being rooted and established in
love, may have power, together
with all the Lord’s holy people,
to grasp how wide and long
and high and deep is the love
of Christ, and to know this love
that surpasses knowledge—that
you may be filled to the measure
of all the fullness of God.” Ephesians
3:17-19
To be filled with God’s love is His
promise to us. Though deserving
of nothing but judgment, we
can bask in God’s love each and
every moment of each and every
day He gives us.
He promises His love.
Promise #2: “I am working for
your good.”
“And we know that in all things
God works for the good of those
who love him, who have been
called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28
Do we believe this? Too often,
we don’t. We can’t understand
how God is using something in
our lives, so we start running
in circles with our hands in the
air, bemoaning our situation, all
Godly perspective lost. It’s easy
to get to this place of panic. How
could God possibly be using
this illness, this death, this job
loss, this irritating co-worker, this
bonus check, this sunny day, this
sale on potatoes, to work for my
good? That’s not always for us to
know. What we can know is that
in all of these things, God works
for our good.
There is one caveat. Notice we
are told this is a promise for
those who love him, who have
been called according to his
purpose. This promise is not for
everyone. It is for believers. For
those following Christ, God is
working all things for our good.
He is orchestrating His plan for
His redeemed, and every note is
played for their benefit.