Believing the Promise... the Wayfarer

Believing the Promise
1/26/18

2 Timothy 1:12

¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Paul, despite the many trials and afflictions that battered him throughout his testimony among the heathen, held fast to the promise of eternal life through the resurrection of Christ Jesus.

Each of the apostles maintained and retained that promise, sharing that  precious promise with all they came into contact, despite the constant refusal of those about them that failed to recognize the truth of that promise, choosing instead the lies of the societies and peoples that was so much easier to accept than the simple truth of that promise.

Societies fell, replaced only by others of their same ilk, each promising a substitute for the truth of the promise preached by the apostles and those following them, that retained and refused to surrender the original promise too simplistic for the vast majority to accept in its entirety.

The Promise remains, unchanged, unchangeable, eternal in its offering to the few willing to accept.

Jeremiah 29:11

 ¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

Expectation, something that comes only with belief!

What is to be expected is that which is pursued with full belief in its completion of delivery in accordance with what is expected in return.

John 14:1-6

King James Version (KJV)

14 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

² In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

⁴ And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

⁵ Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

⁶ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

One way, one truth, one LIFE, for one believer at a time willing to accept the means to attaining that Life through the simple truth of a message brought by the Son of God Himself, that was worth the sacrifice made by him to make it available to all willing to hear and respond to that message with its acceptance.

What could be more simple? 

What appears more difficult to those unwilling to hear that message of repentance for redemption, preached from the Jordan all the way to the cross?

What is more complex and worthwhile than that simple message?

Mark 8:36

³⁶For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

The importance of that simple message is repeated, time and again throughout the ministry of a Savior sent to remind a world of the permanence of a soul and the temporary nature of all else encountered by that soul that is offered in exchange that would appear so glamourous, so enchanting, so worthy for a time that remains only temporary.

Luke 18:26-30

King James Version (KJV)

²⁶ And they that heard it said, Who then can be saved?

²⁷ And he said, The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.

²⁸ Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all, and followed thee.

²⁹ And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake,

³⁰ Who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting.

Manifold more!

Each of the apostles experienced that manifold more throughout the persecution endured as what they sought was the proliferation of that simple truth that was imparted to them through that very TRUTH itself.

Each held fast to the Promise, each willing to keep the commitment made that allowed for the delivery of that precious Promise to the few willing to comprehend its eternal nature in a temporary world in need of eternal promise rather than temporary.

None of them refused to preface the promise without first repeating that simple message of warning delivered that allowed for the delivery of that Promise.

Each faced adversity with the same staunch resolve  that the promise be made available to as many as would accept it.

None proliferated the promise without repeating the expectation of belief in the message that allowed for the delivery.

In closure, I believe the promise, as delivered. I believe the message that allows the delivery of that promise, without which belief is a denial of the delivery of that precious promise.

None can lay claim to half of what was delivered through Christ Jesus, any doing so is in denial of the other half which would negate the promise itself.

To repeat the opening scripture chosen:

2 Timothy 1:12

¹²For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen

the Wayfarer