ALWAYS WITH YOU

I am with you alway.
Matthew 28:20

Do His promises really matter? Does the promise in today’s verse matter? If Christ is really present with me, I mean always really present, does that effect my life? For me, it is the very core of my life. This truth, or reality, is not some add on that enhances my life; it’s not an added help for those difficult moments. No, His presence, Christ Himself, defines my life. He is the joy in my daily routine, He is the very life of my marriage, He is the strength and the focus of my ministry. Without Him, as Solomon said, all is vanity and striving after wind. He corrects me when I am wrong, redirects me when I get off path, strengthens me when I am weak or afraid, encourages me when I am discouraged; it is His nearness that defines my life. Spurgeon had a way of saying things that we feel in our hearts, check this out.

“It is well there is One who is ever the same, and who is ever with us. It is well there is one stable rock amidst the billows of the sea of life. O my soul, set not thine affections upon rusting, moth-eaten, decaying treasures, but set thine heart upon him who abides for ever faithful to thee. Build not thine house upon the moving quicksands of a deceitful world, but found thy hopes upon this rock, which, amid descending rain and roaring floods, shall stand immovably secure. My soul, I charge thee, lay up thy treasure in the only secure cabinet; store thy jewels where thou canst never lose them. Put thine all in Christ; set all thine affections on his person, all thy hope in his merit, all thy trust in his efficacious blood, all thy joy in his presence, and so thou mayest laugh at loss, and defy destruction.”

Listen to these incredible words, “set your affections on His person”. His presence makes Jesus really real to us. Setting the affections of your heart on Him is the very anchor of our soul. This brings stability, focus, and total satisfaction into our lives.
“Set your hope in His merit” Wow!!! If you think about it our lives are defined and puffed up my setting our hope on our own merit. By His grace, our value system changes. Our life takes on meaning and substance when our focus turns on His value in my life. Disappointments lose their sting, my hope is in Christ alone. What about my trust? My trust is now on the precious blood of Jesus. It is His blood that has opened heaven for me. It is because of this relationship that results from forgiveness through His blood that I can rest. I am trusting in the strength of this new friend. Finally, His presence is pure joy. All the shallow joys from accomplishments, possessions, or even friends and family fade into the shadows as Christ becomes the very joy of my joy.