Hold Fast!

Hold Fast!

Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful [to His word]; HEBREWS 10:23 AMP

It would appear from recent days that God would have us focus on the last days; days when faith is tested and hope is tried; when it is easier to let go than hold on; when nothing around you seems to make sense. Yet, in the midst of these realities, Paul reaches out with this charge: let us hold tightly to the confession of our hope. What would this mean in the context of who God is, and what He has called us to?

When I surrendered control to God, what I did would not have sense in the physical, but what it meant was that I was reaching out in hope for something bigger and better than what I had before. I didn't see the whole picture from the start, but there was hope birthed in me when I took that step to trust God. That hope is the fuel that keeps me going, even when nothing around me makes sense. That hope is the driving force for good in me, because it places before me the endless possibilities that Christ has opened for me.

The charge is that I hold tightly to this hope. If there was no danger of me losing it, why would Paul charge me to hold tightly to it? Everywhere you turn, there is pressure to be like every other person, to compromise on your belief, to blend in. The devil knows the good things ahead, because he has tasted it before, so he would want to dissuade and discourage as many as he can. The Word of God is so pointedly blunt when He says that 'only those who endure to the end will be saved'. That makes it clear that it is not really about how you start, or what happens to you along the way; what is important is that you keep your eyes on the end game; the end of all the patience, perseverance, hope and faith.

The reason why I must hold on is the quality of the back up. I got God on my side when I surrender control to Him, and He's got me covered. He's faithful to His Word, and whatever He has said, no matter how long ago, is certain to come to pass, because it is backed up by his nature, which makes it impossible for Him to lie, and by His power, which makes ALL things subject to Him. When I have Him on my side, what is there to fear? When I have Him backing me up, who can stand in His way? That's the confidence; where do I stand? Where do you? His time of favour is here.