Lenten Season Week Four: Assurance in Connectivity by Steward Sydnei Bethea

 

“¹⁶ for through him God created everything in the heavenly realms and on earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see…Everything was created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He existed before anything else, and he holds all creation together.

²¹ This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. ²² Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you in to his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. ²³ But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the reassurance you received when you heard the Good News…” Colossians 1:16 & 17, 21-23 _NLT

My father used to always say to me and my siblings, “You are my namesake, my blood…nothing can come in between that but God.” There was something about the phrase that was reassuring, almost as though I’d always have his unconditional love.

In Colossians 1:16 & 17, The Word reinforces that God created everything, He holds it all together, and promises that He will handle the rest. Knowing that God cannot lie and will not fail, there is even greater reassurance in His promises. Still, there is a caveat that places some responsibility back on us as followers: continue to believe in the Good News and stand firmly in it.

Despite advancements where most things like phones, speakers, and ear pods market accessibility and pride its wireless nature, even those products require connection to charge and maintain power. Similar to those products, we must stay connected to Christ and His guidance in order to be charged and magnify power. Ephesians 2:18 _NLT tells that “all of us come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us.” We, as Christians, are privileged to have the Holy Spirit dwell within all of us because of Christ’s sacrifice. Let’s think of that as the outlet that provides electricity to our wireless devices.

And then we have our charging ports: prayer, praise and worship, and bible study/devotionals, to name a few. These are tools that we can use to know The Word and essential practices to apply when trials try to obstruct our journey. When we learn God’s promises, we can use them as the enemy attacks our vulnerabilities. We can stand firmly in His truth knowing that the enemy will back down to our omnipotent Savior. Most importantly, we can use prayer as a relationship builder with Christ. This is the ultimate connectivity tool to provide us with limitless power. We can ask for anything in His name and even move mountains if we truly believe…there’s that responsibility again.

In the same way that we keep our cellular phones handy, charged, and ready, we must reflect that zeal in our daily lives as witnesses of Christ. Even disconnected from the port temporarily, others must know that we are followers and we need to lead by example. Because we are consistently studying The Word and communicating with Christ, it will be easier to minister to others about His ability and goodness. And especially when we face those trials, we’re supposed to reconnect to the charging port to show others how we lean closer on Christ to handle adversity.

“But blessed are those who trust in The Lord and have made The Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing.”

Jeremiah 17:7 & 8 _NLT provides certainty that connectivity is key during the tests.

 

There is assurance in knowing that we have direct accessibility to eternal life because Jesus gave His life for us. Be eager to remain connected to the port and stay charged to function with full power.