Zechariah 9:16 For they shall be like the jewels of a crown, Lifted like a banner over His land—
Revelation 19: 9 Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb…these are the true sayings of God.
Sometimes being faithful to God does not come easy. Perhaps it is when the crowd you hang with jokes about heaven or hell. Perhaps it is when your career outweighs the family you believe you are providing for. Or maybe it is when a loved one dies. I guess if faithfulness to God was dependent solely on one’s motives or emotions or willpower, then there is a multitude of reasons to lose faith. Thankfully, however, faith is paired with being “called to the marriage supper.” That sounds to me like we are given the faith that will take us to the end of this life and into the next. There is comfort in that thought. Though we can stray from faithfulness to the point where our desire to please God is challenged by the pressures without and within, the faith of our salvation remains. Zechariah 9:12 says, “Return to the stronghold, You prisoners of hope. Even today I declare to you that I will restore double to you.” Prisoners of hope. That is what we are who believe in Christ Jesus. Even our choice whether to continue in loving God or to contemplate leaving God is heavily chained to saving faith. The pull to believe is more than our decision, and the push to strain out the dregs of our own faithless speech is linked by the Holy Spirit of God who forges our confession of faith with power to overcome this world’s sting of death. How can that be when our inner self becomes confused about or angry with God or when we have allowed dust to settle over our mind’s eye clouding the freshness of that confession of Christ so long ago? It would be good to remember that sometimes being faithful to God does not come easy. Just couple that fact with the knowledge that Jesus Christ, the faithful, the true, the righteous One, stands in the gap of our weakness, pride, and disappointment, lifting us as a banner over His land (Zehariah 19:9). He lifts us. He calls us. He prepares us. From the treasure of His sacrificial heart’s work Jesus Christ saved us eternally and strengthens us daily. Perhaps this life will ebb and flow with pain, but Christ’s faithfulness will bring us back to Him. Come Lord Jesus, come!
Sixty-six books in a year 