A Thought for Monday 3 November 2014

“My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from [David], nor allow My faithfulness to fail.”  Psalm 89:33 NKJV

The Protestant doctrine that is commonly known as “once saved, always saved” has been turned on its head by human misunderstandings, but it nevertheless speaks a profound Truth as it is written in the psalm: “I will not allow My faithfulness to fail” and “My Covenant I will not break” (vs 34). 

Lest we begin to think The Lord’s faithfulness is all about “me”, however, we are compelled by the Spirit and the Word to draw closer and read more carefully.  When we dare to do so, we will find the one thing that had endured through the ages and will endure forever: The Lord’s Covenant, The Lord’s own faithfulness.  Us?  Well, not so much.

We have the “hope that is within”, however, not of some blind belief but of what is written for us to know.  Abraham was called to give up his beloved Isaac, but the Covenant was to endure.  David was an adulterer and a murderer, but the Covenant was to endure.  John the Baptist preached faithfully and was beheaded for it, but the Covenant walked among us.  Even when humanity tried to destroy the Covenant at the Cross, the Eternal Covenant was resurrected on the third day and now sits at the Right Hand of the Most High.

We continue to face our challenges especially during an election season when we are forcefully, aggressively, and constantly reminded of our imperfections, our outright hatefulness, contempt, and spite; but we persevere because the Covenant will endure with us or without us.  It is for us to decide whether we will be so faithful, for we have the Promise which will endure for those who “endure to the end” (Matthew 10:22).

The election season is about to (mercifully!) come to an end but the Church still has much to do, for we are the “voice of one crying in the wilderness”.  In the light of the Covenant, you and I must make a choice that is not both/and; but rather either/or.  We are of the Covenant which is not of this world, or we are the world which tries to have its cake and eat it, too – utterly rejecting the Covenant. 

We are fully in or fully out; there is no third choice.  Let us then resolve to reflect the faithfulness of The Lord so that others can share “the hope that is within us”.

Blessings,

Michael