Growing in the Understanding and Confidence of God's Love

Abby wakes up from naps and often criticizes the person that left her. If I was in her room before she fell asleep, or she is at Mt. Calvary’s pre-school with one of her teachers, she will wake up and say that we left her. Little people are dependent on others and thus confident that adults will be there. This is something that God naturally puts in us. That is why if a child (especially a young child) has a parent they can’t depend on or be confident that the parent will be there for them, he or she can be affected for life. When a kid heads off to college excited and confident, the dependence on their family suddenly disappears. Most days the student never realizes how important it was in the first place, but it is a feeling that he/she will never forget. Now the student has an understanding of why that dependent love was something necessary in his/her life.

As believers in Christ, we soon learn that there is truly nothing in this world that we can be absolutely confident will remain the same. At the same time, we are also growing in understanding and confidence of God’s love. What I mean is, life is full of sin, pain and loss that impacts and affects everyone, and as we realize this, we see that we can’t be confident of anything in this life. In my life, there are two people who are dealing with the potential loss of a parent, or have just gone through it. All the confidence that Abby has when she wakes up from a nap, that someone she loves and trusts will be there with her, can one day suddenly be ripped out from under her. I am watching these two friends struggle through that loss. They both love Jesus and have confidence in His love, but their human dependence and confidence of what they had growing up is slowly disappearing. You can see and feel the pain from people going through this, even in Facebook posts.

Since I go to a lot of funerals, I see that this never changes. Even someone who loses a loved one at 98 can feel the same strong loss as losing someone who is younger. God built us to love and care for others, and that confidence and dependence on those who have been in our lives is powerful.

In a sermon series on outcomes you would think the blog would be positive and uplifting. The reality of this world is why this outcome is so necessary for believers. When the people we have our confidence in fail us, then what? It is then that we grow in the understanding and confidence of God’s love. Scripture is powerful. It shows us that the believers in Christ were continually taken care of by the love of Jesus. In their toughest and weakest moments, they were able to trust God’s provision. This is what we want at Mt. Calvary. When people are at their weakest moment, we want them to be confident that the love of Jesus will see them through. This is a moment where, as people who understand the love of Jesus, we can confidently tell people to wait for it-- wait for the moment when my Jesus shows up. There is nothing that He can’t handle! He is and always has been there to love and care for me! This is confidence in the love of Christ. When people learn that this world always falters, they can see how Jesus never does.