Pastoral Letter: July 2020

For we have come to share in Christ,
if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
(Hebrews 3:14)

As long as we do not harden our hearts and rebel against God, we get to share in His blessings. This is the “original confidence” which the preacher encourages us to hold firm. We have a share in all that Christ has. Not because we are wonderful people, but because we have a wonderful God. A wonderful God who enjoys turning everything upside-down to make us His children.

Listen to what the Scriptures say about this:

• “It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:7-8).
• “Then Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Are all your sons here?’ And he said, ‘There remains yet the youngest, but behold, he is keeping the sheep.’ And Samuel said to Jesse, ‘Send and get him, for we will not sit down till he comes here.’ And he sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy and had beautiful eyes and was handsome. And the Lord said, ‘Arise, anoint him, for this is he.’ Then Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. And the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward. And Samuel rose up and went to Ramah” (1 Samuel 16:11-13).
• “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. … More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation” (Romans 5:6-11).

These passages speak of God choosing us without any merit or worthiness in us. In fact, His choice of you and me makes no sense to our human minds. We naturally think that the majority should rule in all things, but God doesn’t deal with the majority. He takes the least. Israel was “the fewest of all peoples.” David was the youngest of eight brothers. You and I were God’s enemies!

You and I would not make these choices. Thank God that He isn’t like us! He chooses as He wishes. He blesses as He wishes. Even and especially when it seems like everything else is falling apart. That is when God sends His blessings most often. In the moments where everything seems to be its darkest and bleakest. After all, it was in the total darkness of Good Friday where His greatest blessing came. Eternal salvation for you and me. Eternal because He said so. Therefore we can be confident. Amen.