Held By God
A while back, I needed to make two visits in Sioux Falls. One visit was to someone in the hospital in the morning and another visit to pray with someone before surgery. There was about a three hour window of time that I needed to fill. I went to a coffee shop, got a little caffeine, and did a little work on my tablet. Before I went to do the afternoon visit I decided to go to the mall to see if I could find a good price on some clothes that I was in need of. I parked near the food court entrance and spent roughly 30 minutes looking for a dress clothes. On the way out I was observing how little activity there was at the mall compared to times past. The handful of cars in the parking lot reflected how few people were moving around the interior of the mall. The activity in the mall was nothing like I knew when I was younger, even on a slow day.
As I was nearing my car, I saw a mother and I would guess a three year old child. The child pulled his hand out of the hand of his mother and began to run from the mother. There was not much of a sense of urgency from the mother because there were so few cars and she could see every area of potential danger. I got into the car and thought about how differently that mother would have acted if it was a busier day. If it was Christmas season, there would be no way the mother would have let her child run through the parking lot. Her quiet and passive pleas for the child to stop would have instead been a frantic scramble to make sure her child was back in her control. She would have dropped her shopping bags and done everything she needed to do to make sure that her child was safe. In fact, she would probably not have even allowed the child to walk next to her holding her hand. She would have held the child safely in her arms from the mall until she safely placed her in the car seat.
This got me to thinking about how we view God and what he has done to save us. If we believe that sin is merely something that we can correct on our own or that sin isn't that big a deal then our view of how God saves us and holds on to us is going to reflect that. If we see God like the mother I witnessed in the parking lot then we are ultimately in control and God is just overseeing us and keeping us from doing any major harm to ourselves.
On the other hand, if we hold to a Biblical view of sin and an understanding that we are dead in our trespasses and sins things will be different. We would see God much more like the scenario I imagined during the Christmas shopping season. God would not only take hold of us but he would not let us go until he delivered us safely.
This is so important for our understanding of who God is, how he saves us, and how he holds on to us. Our sin is a big deal. It is treason against the Most High and in order to be rescued from it the ultimate price had to be paid. God the Son took on human flesh, lived for us, died for us, and rose again for us. He is now at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. Through the proclamation of the gospel the Holy Spirit has brought us to faith. All to rescue us from sin and death. As we know so well from John 3:16-17 God showed his love for us in Jesus Christ. He did not leave us to wander. He did all that needed to be done to bring his people to himself. If you are in Christ, God has laid hold of you and he will not let go. He will bring you safely home. Rest in that good news and trust in his great saving work in Christ for you.
