Will You Let God Reassure You?

I’m going to be with Jesus when I die.

No ‘ifs or buts’. Guaranteed!

Am I arrogant beyond measure, deluded, or suffering from a bout of wishful thinking?

No, none of these. I simply take God at his word. He wants me to be assured and relaxed; so I am.

The events of Easter are God’s reassurance. We often don’t gain enough reassurance from Jesus’ death and resurrection because we don’t understand what he is doing and how it connects with you and I.

Many people say that Jesus died in our place on the cross (a substitute) so that we wouldn’t have to receive God’s judgement on our sinful world.

But Paul says Jesus was our representative and therefore we were joined to Jesus when he died on the cross. We were judged and died with him on the cross…

“… don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.
5 If we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:3-5)

When you look at it from this angle you know that there is no judgement awaiting you because when you are joined to Christ you have already been through judgement.

But wait… there’s more!!!

If you are joined to Jesus then you also will be raised from the dead just as he was! (see verse 5) No ‘ifs and buts’. Whatever happens to Jesus happens to you. This means that the resurrection is not just a happy ending to the story but is an essential part of your salvation and mine. If He was not raised then neither would you and I be. But because Jesus was raised to eternal life in the Kingdom of God, you and I will be.

But how can I be sure I am a part of this? Especially if I am not a very good Christian and have doubts about all sorts of things? Do I have to have a perfect faith to qualify?

Faith is not what most people think. It is not about forcing myself to believe unbelievable things, and the more unbelievable it is the more faithful I am! Rather, faith is about God doing this amazing thing for you and you simply accepting the gift and saying, ‘thank you’. Your set of beliefs doesn’t save you, God does!

So this Easter, relax and say to God those words He so yearns to hear from your lips; a simple, heartfelt ‘thank you’.

Enjoy your God this Easter … and for eternity!

Graeme.