Once and forever

Has anyone ever taken the blame for you? When you did something wrong, was there someone who stood up and accepted the punishment you deserved?

That’s happened to me a few times, where I truly deserved what was coming to me, but someone else stood up in my place and “took one for the team” so to speak.

Waterfall at Glen Eyrie - Colorado Springs, CO

Today’s verse is Hebrews 7:25.

Therefore he is able, once and forever, to save those who come to God through him. He lives forever to intercede with God on their behalf.

That’s what Jesus did for us on the cross. He stood up in our place and took punishment that we deserved for our sins so that we could have a relationship with God — the same kind of relationship He does. He died on the cross, He rose from the dead, and now He is in heaven preparing a place for those of us who follow Him.

What this verse is saying is epic.

It’s saying that Jesus can save anyone who comes to God through Him. Once and forever.

We don’t have to ask over and over again.

We don’t have to worry that we’ll lose our salvation.

We don’t have to seek salvation by good deeds or good works.

Salvation comes through Christ, once and forever. Jesus stands between us and God and bridges the gap we could never cross on our own.

This thought is brief today, but it’s a pretty big deal. And a lot of times, this is something I take advantage of. I don’t appreciate this relationship that I have. I can drop everything and go directly to God through Christ and tell Him about what’s happening in my life. I can live my life with confidence and surety that I know 100% where I will go when I die. And I don’t have to be insecure about my eternal future because my future rests in Jesus’ hands and not my own.

How often do I take that for granted? How often do I get caught up in the silly little details of my little life?

Christ saved me, once and forever. How can anything bring me down when I look at life that way?

No request too small

When I was younger, I wasn’t sure what I could pray about. As a child, I really didn’t have any needs. My family was as functional as it could be, not perfect but operative. We had food. We had clothes. I was getting an education and receiving enough attention. So I never really prayed for myself very often, mainly because I thought it was selfish. I would pray for other people, but I always tried to pray for big requests.

 

When I was a child the first Desert Storm was in process, and I remember praying for the soldiers in Iraq and Kuwait. That was a big prayer request, so it seemed normal and right to pray for something to big.

 

And that kind of carried over into my adolescent years because even though there were things I wanted or needed help with, I didn’t know if I should really pray about those things. I mean, God’s a busy guy. Did He really have time to deal with my silly, inconsequential prayer requests like helping me pass a test or helping me find my keys? Those sorts of requests didn’t help anyone but me, so would he even listen if I asked for myself?

Little purple flower - San Francisco, Peten, Guatemala

 Today’s verse is Philippians 4:6.

 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

See that word everything? Well, it actually means everything. It doesn’t mean just big requests. It doesn’t mean just requests for other people. It doesn’t mean just world-changing types of requests. It means everything that worries you, everything you need, everything you’re scared of. Everything.

Even if it’s a small request to help you remember where you put your keys, God wants to help us.

I used to get caught up in the idea that God was so big and so mighty that He couldn’t possibly care about what went on in our everyday lives. I mean, I knew He loved us. But I figured it was a distant kind of love, the kind of love and appreciation a boss might have for his or her employees. But that’s not it at all.

The love God has for us is personal and intimate and all-encompassing. He wants to be a part of our daily lives, even in the inconsequential things. And He loves us enough to listen to everything we have to say.

And I’m glad. Because I misplace my keys a lot. And being able to ask Him to help me remember what on earth I did with them is a comfort, and every time I ask Him for help, He does. I can run like a maniac around the house looking for my keys, and then when I stop and pray about it, I find my keys straightaway.

There’s no request too small for God. Just like there’s no request too big for Him. But what I’ve learned throughout all these years of following Jesus is that the small requests are often answered sooner. The big requests usually take a little more time because more people are involved or because they will have an impact on history or culture. But, to me, it’s the answers to small requests that make the difference. Because if God cares enough to answer a small prayer over and over again, it shows me how much He loves me. It shows me that I can trust Him.

And once I know that He loves me and that He’s not going to let me down, I’m not afraid of anything anymore.