Secure in Him

the end are immediately followed by assurances that “God is faithful” (1 c orinthians 1:8-9, cf. 1 Thessalonians 5:24). God’s faithfulness and purpose in salvation ground a hope and promise that is for all believers.

o thers may believe that God does work to sustain them, but that they are still free to fall away and apostatize. b ut if that were true, it would have already happened. o ur love for c hrist is so small. d o you not see your heart in those words, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave to God I love?” o ne bad day, one sleepless night is enough to show us how terrible our hearts are and how spiritually destitute we are without Jesus. We truly do need h im every hour. And this is to say nothing of attacks from demonic forces, which we would be helpless against apart from c hrist. The chain is only as strong as its weakest link. If any part of our perseverance rested on our spiritual strength and love for c hrist, we would have been lost a long time ago. Additionally, when we look back at our c hristian walk, we see how many times we could have easily fallen away were it not for God’s sovereign hand. It is only by grace and grace alone that we have continued in the faith — and will continue to the end.

This leads to us an important truth: it is ultimately God’s hold of us, not our hold of h im, that keeps and sustains us to the end. While we are called to actively persevere ( h ebrews 10:36), it is not our efforts that ensure our salvation, but h e who sustains (1 c orinthians 1:8) and guards us (1 Peter 1:5). o ur power to keep ourselves is absolutely pitiful, but God’s keeping of us is power and effectual. If you can fall away, God’s keeping could not guarantee that you — or anyone at all — will be saved. b ut that’s not how the b ible sees it. While the connection between free will and God’s sovereignty is complex, Jesus clearly thought that if God holds someone, they could never fall away and perish. “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand” (John 10:28). “And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day” (John 6:39). “While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the s cripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12).

Additionally, c hristians may backslide and wander, but it is h e who ensures that their “faith may not fail” and that they will return (Luke 22:32). The s hepherd will bring back h is wandering sheep “for it is not the will of my Father in heaven that one of these little ones should perish” ( m atthew 18:14). c hristians are called to holiness, but praise God that h e “remains faithful” even when we are not (2 Timothy 2:13). We could have no hope otherwise.

When we imagine we are strong, this teaching seems superfluous, annoying even. b ut when we see our real condition, that we are hopelessly weak, that we cannot continue in the faith for a year, a day, a minute without h im, nothing could be more relieving and comforting than to know that c hrist keeps us every moment and will never let us go. A man may scoff at a boat if he thinks he can swim to shore. b ut the despairing, drowning man cries with joy to see it. Let it drive us to our knees in worship, how h e keeps us and grows us in h im day by day, knowing with the certainty Paul had that we will in but a little while be on our knees praising h im face to face in h eaven. “o love that will not let me go!”

Andrew Sveda is a senior at Notre Dame from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, majoring in political science and theology. In his free time, he enjoys writing (obviously), reading and playing the piano. He can be reached at asveda@nd.edu or @SvedaAndrew on Twitter.

The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.