Safe and Secure

I once counseled a couple and to be perfectly honest, they had to be two of the most self-centered individuals that I ever met. It was hard for me to even like them never mind love them. They had once told me that they were having a hard time keeping their faith because they were mad at God for being bumped out of first class on their last vacation. Life should be so tough!
Never mind having to experience any real problems. If somebody is ready to throw away their relationship with God because their BMW is on the blitz, something tells me that their faith wasn’t built on very strong relational ties to begin with.
As the two of them sat in my office, the wife boasted of the fact that she and her husband had everything that money could buy. Her diamond ring cost more than my salary. He boasted of their big house and the summer home on the lake. They bragged that all of their kids were in the finest private school in the city. Luxury was their label. Money was their moniker. But God was just along for their ride and that was the problem. They might have had everything that you could purchase with cash and credit, but they were missing all the intangibles that no amount of currency can acquire. This is one of the times that the Beatles got it right when they sang, “Money can’t buy you love.” And they were looking for stuff to provide a satisfaction that only a Savior could deliver!
God’s great desire for his people is that they feel secure in his love and safe in his power. Everything else in life may be unstable. Our health, our family, our job, our possessions, our circumstances, our society and our world can be upended in a moment. There have been many times these last few months as I have battled my own physical issues that I have felt like I am out standing on the ledge of a building about 60 stories up with the wild wind blowing and even when I reach out to hold on, the very bricks I grab on to come loose from the mortar.
I have come to realize that being a Believer does not exempt me from trials and trouble. My relationship with God does assure me that when the hardships and persecution and danger and loss come rolling in, I can be more than just a survivor. I can be certain amidst the surrounding uncertainty that nothing this world throws at me can separate me from the love of God given to me by grace through faith in Jesus. He is the only sure thing when I can’t be sure of anything else!
To attempt to obtain safety and security apart from a strong connection to the Lord is ludicrous. If you try to find your security in your health, what happens when you get diagnosed with a sickness beyond your control? If your safety net is your spouse, what would you do if you lost them? If your world turning is dependent upon the job you have, what happens if your position get terminated? If you say that you couldn’t live without your kids, what if you suddenly found yourself having to do just that? What about those who lost their furnishings, their memories and their very homes in the last super storm? As everything they owned was being bulldozed from their curbs, is there any possible way they could ever experience an inner peace that life could go on and would go on from that horrific moment?
Everything but God will be threatened by time and time alone. A good definition of sin is when we make an effort to feel secure in anything other than the Lord. Unless you stand upon the rock of salvation, every other footing has the potential to quickly turn into sinking sand. So when life threatens to rob from you all the things that money can buy here on earth, do you have a genuine faith that can’t be bought because you have committed and surrendered your soul to be sold out to heaven?
What profits a man or woman if he or she gains the whole world but loses their soul? But if you have allowed God to get his hands all over you, nothing can touch what he has determined to be off limits! My body may be burned but I’m still going to live forever! My stuff may be destroyed, but God will still provide all my needs. I could lose everyone I love this side of heaven, but the one who loves me is never going to lose me! And it is there that I find everything that my heart has been looking for.
God gave to us his Holy Spirit as a guarantee that he will come through on every promise that he has ever made to us. The Greek word for guarantee is the “arrabon.” The arrabon was a regular feature in the business world of ancient times. It was part of the purchasing price of anything. It was the deposit paid in advance as a sure promise that the rest of the bill would in due course be fully taken care of. No bankruptcy from above! No repossessions and no returns! There are many ancient Greek documents still in existence today in which the arrabon is written clearly on the bill of sale. A man sells his cow and receives so many drachmae in advance as the arrabon.
The Holy Spirit in our hearts is our eternal security that we can’t lose what God has promised to fulfill. The salvation that we are presently tasting of right now is because of the fact that the Father through the Son has given us the Holy Spirit in our lives and all of that is still just an appetizer of the amazing feast that still await all those who believe. This is actually still just the first act, the opening number, the first portion of what is ultimately promised to all those that love the Lord.
Do you know that the word “arrabona” is the Modern Greek word for engagement ring? An engagement ring promises marriage but is still not the marriage itself. The Holy Spirit is God’s engagement ring to us assuring us that he is coming back to take us away to be with him forever. At The Marriage Feast of the Lamb in the book of Revelation 19, we will receive our wedding ring and that will be a forever union with Jesus! And even if you have tasted of the unconditional love of God here on earth- you still haven’t seen anything yet!
So how safe and secure are you today? Do you know the security that comes with not owning everything that money can buy but by experiencing the love of God that no human fortune could have purchased but still comes upon us because Jesus paid it all when he shed his blood on Calvary for you and for me? Have you felt the safety that comes when you know that if God be for you then nothing can overtake you? In his strength, I am strong. In his love, I belong. Safe and secure and it doesn’t cost me a dime. It all comes when I am willing to lose myself only to discover that I finally find my truest self in him.