1 Thing Matters adb

Jesus told his disciples that, though he was going to ascend into heaven, he wasn’t going to leave them alone. He was going to send “the Advocate,” a title for the Holy Spirit. But Jesus wasn’t sending the Spirit to replace him; rather, he was sending him to assure us of Jesus’ eternal presence and power in our lives. With the confidence of Jesus’ ongoing power to save, the Holy Spirit equips his church - us! - to participate in Christ’s saving work. Through our testimony, the Spirit raises the spiritually dead to life, just as he did on the Day of Pentecost. 

This world is broken. Oh, certainly, we still see beauty in nature. By God’s grace, we have plenty of happy moments. But that does not change the fact that this world does not function the way God designed it to. It is dangerous, especially for God’s children. Jesus once promised that those who live for him will be hated (just as Christ was hated) by those who live for the world. The even greater danger: the priorities prompted by this broken world tempt the careless Christian to devalue that which truly matters. This world is very broken.



For that reason, our gracious, living Lord promises that one day soon enough, he will take us to a better world. More, he promises that until that time, his Father will protect us, preserving our faith through the truth of his Word. This is the resurrection reality. By God’s grace, we will overcome this broken world.

The entirety of God’s Word can be summed up in one word: love. God’s Law is all about love. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart…” and “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37,39). The gospel is all about love: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son…” (John 3:16). From his compassion for the sick and broken, to his sacrificial death on the cross, to the peace he provided after his resurrection, Jesus was the perfect embodiment of love. Love is his business.



Therefore, love is our business too. The resurrection reality is that with the same supernatural power by which God raised Jesus from the dead, God now enables us to live a new life—one marked by radically selfless love. The motivation and ability to do this comes from seeing the endless love Christ has for us. We love because he first loved us.

Self-assurance is a fickle thing. Ask the best golfers in the world how much confidence they have when they suddenly start to struggle just to qualify for the very tournaments they used to win. Self-assurance is at a high when we perform well, but as soon as we stumble in some area of life, our faith in ourselves flounders. That’s why real assurance - especially of where we stand with God - simply cannot come from ourselves. It must come from somewhere else. And it does. 



It comes from God himself who alone provides the assurance we so desperately seek. 

There are plenty of people today who claim they can provide healing or guidance for your soul. However, the Bible warns that, beneath the surface, not everyone is who they may appear to be. Rather than providing healing or guidance, many may actually do more harm to our souls than good. Their threats are real! But so is the resurrection reality that our Good Shepherd provides all that is needed to thwart their threats. 

Contrary to popular belief, “repentance” isn’t the dirty word many people think it is. While repentance does involve admitting and owning up to the filth of our sins, it isn’t repentance if it stops there. 



No, real repentance also includes embracing by faith what Jesus has done with our sins: wiped them away and washed us clean from them. The result? Not only are we left standing in the perfect purity of God’s light, but we also have the newfound desire to remain there.