“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
~Romans 10:13 (NRSV).
Damage and destiny occur routinely in this life. We read of crimes, we hear of relationship breakdowns due to infidelities, abuses or neglect, we know of ethical failures in business, and the rat-race existence of just simply keeping up is ever before us.
This reality we call “life” is too hard at times; there just aren’t enough answers to go around to solve many common conundrums.
Fortunately there is a simple answer when it comes to faith to overcome all this!
The Name All Will Bow to
Whether people like him, love him or hate him, every human being is destined to exalt Jesus (Philippians 2:9-11). For those thinking him to be just a figment of Christians’ imaginations, how shocked (and awed) they’ll be when they come face to face with the Master of grace.
For those not doubting historical fact — the life of Jesus — but doubting his Deity, these too will not be able to reconcile the abject brilliance of this wonderful Saviour... we’ll all be totally awed, speechless and completely unable to utter a thing from our hearts but the very real sense of undying worship.
The overriding fact for us all is: get used to it. Jesus has crushed sin, and has made a way for us back to the Father. But that’s not the half of it. In reality Jesus reigns forever and will one day make it a reign that encapsulates every realm, after the perfect annihilation of sin and the consummation of all evil.
What a hope that is.
Jesus – the Name that Overcomes
In the tradition of truth, the name of Jesus wouldn’t mean a scrap if it didn’t work to help make our lives better. We don’t have a joker-of-a-God who takes delight in promising empty promises. No, we can run to the Lord’s arms and find rest and peace and ways for real and lasting resilience in our daily battles. And even when we’re succumbing, Jesus’ Spirit is there, suffering in it with us. He is indelible light and real hope for us as we battle in a world not foreign to calamity.
How does this faith work such like... for those who are not living a miracle every day?
Well, virtue enfolds itself through us as we bay in the splendour of the Spirit of truth and grace, giving ourselves unto the Lord’s training toward justice, kindness and humility (Micah 6:8) — the model of Jesus himself. When God becomes the most important thing in our lives, suddenly everything else starts to fall more into place (Matthew 6:33).
There is no other way that life can be ‘mastered’ than through faith in Jesus (though we’ll try dozens of other methods first). No other ‘faith’ can truly compete on this stage, for faith in God is always inherently home in truth.
What is truth? Jesus. Every time.
© 2011 S. J. Wickham.
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