Author: Eunice Patricia Aber

Committed to spreading the love of Jesus to those around me.

The Almighty Referee

Eunice Patricia AberLeave a comment

In organised sports, there is always a term for when the opponent tries to or gets an unfair advantage. And there are always safeguards against it. For example, in football, an off-side goal is not counted. In boxing, you cannot beat your opponent when he is already down. In Tennis, you can only serve when your opponent is ready to receive… and many more.

It seems to me that we, knowing our vicious tendencies and callous hearts, have come to define boundaries in which we can protect ourselves against each other – at least in organised sports we do. It is called fair play. That’s what referees are for. Even in day to day arguments, fair play is a rule we try to abide by voluntarily, albeit imperfectly… “You do not say things to purposefully put the other person down.” Or at least you shouldn’t.

And so it is with that same understanding of human dignity that I went to meet the LORD one morning. I felt that, for once, we as humans had done better than He had.

Because, as I recalled and inspected my recent tackles with my opponent, the devil, I could see clearly – in broad daylight – points and spots where he obviously low balled. Where he callously used an unfair advantage over me. And I felt betrayed by my referee – who I imagined should have been God.
He was not supposed to allow it!
It was not fair play when the other opponent could use whatever artillery was present at his disposal against me.

And then, after a long silence, He began to speak. The Almighty Referee… He reminded me of Job. Yes, Job, my very relatable brother and forefather. Yes, this very Job who had been a reference in many a conversation. Big Sigh.
But this time, the example was different. He took me back; back and back to when he was having a conversation with my opponent. There. He showed me what he wanted me to see (Job 1-2).

That I should not expect Him to referee in the same way that humans do. “His ways are much higher than mine – anyway (Isaiah 55:8-9)” – I almost rolled my eyes at the annoying thought, but then remembered in whose presence I stood.
In Job’s story, the only unfair advantage the opponent had was “to take the life of Job” (Job 2:6). And He, the Referee of Referees, had stood watch to ensure that never happened.

Even when Job’s opponent, the devil, tried the sly move of pitting Job’s wife against him – causing her to say words that could have driven Job to his own death nonetheless, the Almighty Referee stood watch and never allowed that to happen (Job 2:9-10).
The goal did not count! It was offside and so did not have any effect on Job.
The Almighty Referee had stood watch all this time.

Unlike the games we humans organise and oversee, we are never in full view of the playing ground – or might I say the battle ground – that we are on with our enemy, the devil. In human games and fights, we have a full knowledge of what the referee must do and where the fouls and penalties come from. However, while living life, we do not have that full view. Or many times we are too busy living life to learn the tricks and traps of the enemy, and so he gets an advantage over us (2 Corinthians 2:11).

Our greatest weapon and most important defence is our total trust and reliance on the Almighty Referee, God. And our knowledge of Him and what advantages we have in Him. Daniel said that the people that know their God shall wax strong and do exploits (Daniel 11:32). And in knowing God, we get to understand that we already have a sure advantage, for our victory has been claimed since the foundations of the world (Revelations 13:8, 1 Corinthians 15:57).

That my friends is how I understood what I must do – should the enemy come dangling his illegitimate “victories” over me. And also what I must do to ensure that I do not once more find myself doubting the intentions and nobility of my most gracious and attentive Almighty Referee.

Will I do all that I have learned?
By the sure Grace of God I will!

Till we meet in heaven, or by the grace and will of God – somewhere on the face of this earth, remember with me that the battle is not over until the last whistle is blown by the referee!
And thank God, Oh, thanks be to the Almighty God!
Thank God that it is the Almighty Referee, and not our opponent, who determines when the last whistle gets blown.

Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

Selah…

A sweet revelation

Eunice Patricia Aber2 Comments

When Abraham was asked by God to sacrifice his son Isaac whom he loved, and the only son through whom God had promised to bless him as the father of all nations (Genesis 22:1-2), it seemed like the cruelest of demands! It is inevitable to wonder what went on in Abraham’s mind after he heard that command from God and many of us will want to sit down with father Abraham and hear this part of his story. Did he think God was cruel? Did he think God was greedy? Did he think God was a psycho? Did he question God’s personality? Did he think God was joking? Or did he trust that God was in control? Just what was going on in Abraham’s mind the evening when God asked him to sacrifice Isaac? A very open question with a million answers.

My humble submission is that Abraham trusted that God was in control. Why do I say that? Because Abraham got up the very next day and did just what God had commanded. One may argue that he waited a whole day, but from his overall story, we can confirm that Abraham’s daily routine involved having a quiet time with God, usually at night. When he was told to sacrifice Isaac, it was probably too late to go at that time and so he got up early the next morning. You don’t get up early the morning after hearing such a command when you are second guessing the person who gave the command. Abraham was sure about God. He was so sure that he was willing to stake his whole life, symbolised by Isaac, on it.

Why did this happen? What made Abraham so confident in God that he swiftly obeyed a command otherwise considered remarkably cruel? There can be only one reason. Abraham had experienced a “sweet revelation”.

What is a sweet revelation? A sweet revelation is a unique and deeply personal experience with God which makes one unequivocally and relentlessly sure about God’s goodness and faithfulness towards them. It is an exposure to truths about God that “seals the deal” about one’s trust in God by showing them how dependable and trustworthy God is. Very rarely does the sweet revelation happen instantly as a whole. It comes gradually in bits and pieces until a climax which truly seals the deal. For Abraham, his climax was the birth of Isaac. Abraham went through several experiences in life which gradually increased his trust and confidence in God, but Isaac was the ultimate event. After that ultimate event, God made Abraham the most difficult of requests – Isaac’s life. I believe God knew that Abraham had reached this point – otherwise he wouldn’t have made this seemingly cruel request. I also know that Abraham must have reached the highest point of his sweet revelation – otherwise he would never have obeyed this command which such diligent urgency.

Experiencing a sweet revelation is what makes God’s demands which seem cruel doable. It is what makes them doable with joy in our hearts – and not grudgingly or with pain. And God’s demands in our lives will always align with how high up the scale we have reached in this sweet revelation. Furthermore, our enjoyment of our Christian walk and our spiritual freedom in Christ is equally aligned with the level of sweet revelation to which we have been exposed.

One question comes to my mind, which I believe could also be in you, my reader’s mind. What exactly is this sweet revelation? Is it something tangible. How can we all experience this sweet revelation when each of us goes through completely different experiences in life?

The answer is simple. The sweet revelation is the person of God. The reason why each of us can have it despite our different experiences in life is because God reveals Himself in numerous ways. Since we are over 8 billion people presently in the world, it suffices to say that there are currently over 8 billion ways in which God is able to reveal Himself. And like I said earlier, it rarely (at least none that I have witnessed or read of) happens at once. It is a gradual process which happens in bits and pieces like snapshots of a full video or pieces of a puzzle coming together.

And every time we get an extra glimpse of God, more strength is added to our faith, and our trust in Him is strengthened just like a muscle grows strong each time we work it out. And the more our faith and trust in Him grows, the less absurd or less cruel or less crazy His requests of us become, and the swifter we are to do according to His bidding.

A cruel imposition

Eunice Patricia AberLeave a comment

No one probably has the courage to say this, so I will say it for everyone. Christianity, at least the version which I practice, is unimaginably cruel. So much so that many times I ask myself whether I should encourage a person who practices another faith to leave all and follow Christ. So much so that I relate with (and pity) those who eventually renounce the Faith. Christianity is a cruel imposition. That is why Jesus never forced anyone to follow Him, and neither did He entertain any suggestions that Christianity is something that could be inherited through associations of blood (Matthew 12:46-50).

Why do I say this? Let me start by taking us back to the day when man ate the forbidden fruit and lost favour with God and heaven. Although the narration of this story has always only emphasized man’s loss of favour with God, on that day man also gained something he was never meant to or designed to have. The events of that day awakened in man a part of himself which is eternally rebellious against God, and helplessly so (Matthew 16:23-24).

First forward to God’s great plan for redemption and reunification with man. For man to gain favour with God and heaven, two things had to happen. (1) God himself had to do something to close the wide chasm which had been created on that day when man ate the fruit. I know you’ve probably heard this story a thousand times, but please stay with me. I am headed somewhere here.

I have been watching a lot of kingdom related dramas and I’ve learnt a thing or two about how kingdoms operate, so I’ll attempt to explain to you why only God was capable of bridging that wide gap. Imagine in a kingdom (think perhaps the old majestic British empire), a subject who is a close friend and confidant of the king one day entertains the king’s arch enemy and the king’s arch enemy tells him how he himself could become king. Imagine that close friend and confidant of the king gets so deluded and charmed by the king’s arch enemy that he actually follows through on that evil advice. Imagine the king finds out before things get out of hand and then banishes his close friend and confidant, whom he loves so much, to a place so far from the kingdom, say Australia (which was actually one of the places of imprisonment for those who transgressed the British throne). Only the king has ships which can journey that far and only the king has the power to lift his close friend’s harsh sentence. The close friend can only keep wondering aimlessly in exile, never knowing how to get back home, unless the king chooses to pardon him and send ships to bring him back home. That is exactly what God did for us when He sent His son Jesus Christ to die for us. Jesus’ blood, shed on the cross of Calvary, is like a ship sent by the Father to carry us back home.

Now, whereas God has to accomplish task (1), task (2) lies solely on man’s shoulder. Let’s go back to our illustration from the British kingdom. Imagine the king’s close friend is forgiven of his transgression and he is brought back home at the king’s command. Even though he is now free of his sins and free to have an audience with the king, he must prove himself worthy of the king’s favour. He cannot once again entertain the king’s enemies or anything that the king hates. He cannot live the way he wants and speak the way he wants. He must live his life in constant acknowledgement and reverence of the king who saved him, and should he choose to rebel and walk in his own way, there remains no place for forgiveness for him, and the king would be justified in exterminating him completely (Hebrews 6:4-8).

In this story it is very easy for the king’s friend to get back to a place of trust with the king. But what if I add a pinch of fantasy to the story? What if the king’s arch enemy has special powers? What if he used those special powers to plant a seed of rebellion against the king inside the king’s close friend and confidant. A seed which the king’s close friend and confidant can only control with meticulous living and by shunning very many things in his life which would otherwise be pleasant to have. What if, if left unchecked, the seed could turn into a dark deathly power that consumed the king’s close friend and confidant with hatred and rebellion against the king, even without his conscious will? Then living a life of loyalty to the king would cease to be an easy road for the king’s close friend and confidant, but a life of daily sacrifice of his own urges and desires.

Would that life be considered attractive? I believe it would be frowned upon by many, and be considered cruel beyond imagination. But that, in essence, is the reality of Christian living. It is not easy. It was never meant to be easy, so much so, that even the rich man who followed all of the law could not be found worthy (Matthew 19:16-30). What then must we do? This question which the young rich man asked 2000 years ago is still a question many ask today, because every one knows deep down in their hearts when they are missing the mark. Like the rich man, we are all starkly aware of when we “still lack”, although rarely aware of what it is that we still lack. The answer which Jesus gave the rich man that day is the same one which He gives everyone today. Jesus had given this very same answer to His disciples about 3 verses earlier. One thing we must know while reading the Bible is that Jesus usually talked to his disciples in much plainer and direct language than he did to those outside the circle of 12. The simple reason for this is because of the relationship which they shared with Him and the calling which had been placed upon their lives. In Matthew 16:24-25, Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”

I have had the privilege to study and observe other religions. One thing is clear about every religion in the world. Every religion requires sacrifice. If you believe in any sort of deity in this universe, the most reverent show of allegiance to that deity is sacrifice. Different religions teach their followers to sacrifice different things. Some religions require believers to sacrifice certain kinds of foods or drinks, others require sacrifice of marriage, while others require sacrifice of certain lifestyles such as leisure activities, dressing codes and the likes.

Christianity. The one I practice, and the one which I believe Jesus died for and the early church preached, requires a very special kind of sacrifice. It requires sacrifice of self. Like the king’s confidant, it requires that one, on a daily basis and in the core of one’s existence, choose the king above oneself. It requires that one willfully strike a blow to one’s body, enslave one’s own desires, and subject every essence of one’s existence to the pleasure of the king and the advancement of his kingdom (1 Corinthians 9:27).

It is a cruel imposition for creatures so rebellious such as ourselves.

Love in Three Levels

Eunice Patricia Aber6 Comments

God is Love. All Christians grow up hearing this but few of us really get to experience the fullness of God’s love and many die without knowing it. The lack of knowledge and experience of the love of God is not just a characteristic of modern day Church. This problem had so infested the early Church in Ephesus that one of Paul’s earnest prayers was for them to know the love of Christ (Ephesians 3:14-21). Paul gave a reason why the Ephesians so badly needed to know the love of Christ – so that they could be filled with all the fullness of God. This means that there are levels to God which we can never reach without knowing His Love.

This Easter season is a perfect time for us to be reminded of God’s love for us. We looked at the God who loves us inspite of who we are in the first part of the Every Day Valentines series. We then looked at the God who is Faithful through and through in the second part of the series. We will wrap up this series by looking at how the perfect love of God enables us to love each other.

I really love hymns, and one of my favourite hymns has four lines which remind me of God’s perfect love for us:

See from His head,
His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingling down…
Love so Amazing! So Devine!
Demands my soul, my life, my ALL.

There is also nothing that reminds us about the perfect love of God like reflecting on our own human love for each other. One of the salient characteristics of being human is that we always want the best for ourselves. This means that when we are choosing anything, including other humans to do life with, we will look for the best that our eyes can behold. This does not only apply to marriage (although it is most critical in marriage). Even in friendships, we want friends who are there for us and who make us feel good and safe about ourselves. When you ask the average human being why they love another person, you should always expect a myriad of reasons.

The only problem with this is that 1st Corinthians 13 teaches us that love is unconditional. Yet human love to me feels very conditional.

Do this. I’ll do this.
Be this. I’ll do this.
Do this. I’ll be this.

This doesn’t make us evil. It just makes us who we are. HUMAN. Therefore sometimes we need to pause and perform what Dr Dharius Daniels calls a “heart check”, and realistically ask ourselves, “If everything I like about this person were to be suddenly taken away, would I still love them the same, and stay (wholeheartedly)?” Now, one should not expect a strongly positive answer to this question because like I said, “WE ARE HUMAN”. So, the billion dollar question becomes:

Where do we find the balance?

If I cannot love them unconditionally and they cannot love me unconditionally, how do we make up for the deficit in our relationship so that it works out? I believe this is the same question which led Christian marriage counsellors and psychologists to come up with the concept of the Christian Love Triangle. Although the Christian Love Triangle has been popularised in the marriage setting, it is still very applicable and very necessary in other types of relationship.

Adapted from Sandrahope Msigwa

So how does this work? How does God fit into the grand picture of human relationships? First and foremost, it is important for us to be reminded that God is the only one who has seen us for who we truly are and yet has remained completely in love with us. He loved us even before we were formed in our mother’s womb. This basically means that He loved us despite whatever occurrence or circumstance got us into this world. He is also committed to loving us no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in while we go through life. That is truly profound and worth keeping in mind every waking hour of our existence.

God is the first person to ever love at first sight. And He is the only person we can rely on to love even after seeing the full sight. He knows everything we are, yet still chooses us EVERY DAY. Therefore, in order for us to be able to sustain the conditional relationships which we make and those we find ourselves in, we must reach out to the source of truly unconditional love.

Like a car needs fuel in order to keep taking us to where we want to go, we must constantly (in real time) feed on the love of God. So that we may have strength to love others; especially at times when they do not meet all the conditions to deserve our love (and many times they won’t).

That being said, Ladies and Gentlemen, meet the God who loves in three levels. He Alone is Worthy!

True and worthy of all confidence

Eunice Patricia Aber1 Comment

When it comes to love, no one says it better than God and no one means it more.

In the first part of our Every Day Valentine series, we talked about a God who loves in spite of and not because of. We looked at Psalm 8; a very beautiful depiction of just how much God loves us. In Psalm 8, David searches for all the reasons why God could even have a slight regard for man; and he finds none. That kind of love totally amazes me.

Today we add another layer to the mystery of God’s love. That God does not just love us, but is also excellent at telling us how much He does, and equally excellent at meaning it. How exhilarating to hear this on Valentine’s Day, the universal day of showing those we love how much they mean to us!

Let me give you a little prologue to the scripture which we are getting ready to read. You know when you receive a text from someone and every additional line is progressively “worse news” than the previous one; and you are expecting the worst possible ending? But Alas… You reach the end of the text and it is as beautiful as an evening sunset at the beach with a cool breeze!

This scripture caught me extremely unawares when I first read it about 10 or so years ago. And it still undoes me each and every time I read it. I just could not believe that such words existed anywhere in the world and that they could be specifically directed to me.

Simply put; in this scripture God is saying, “My darling. My beloved. I will never force myself on you. But the moment you decide to experience my love, everything I have is yours. Wherever you go, you will always come back and find me standing right here; where you left me. I will be faithfully waiting for you.” I liken it to a marriage. God says that even if we go wayward, He will always keep at it. He will stay true to us even when we are galivanting to other places. Even when we do not keep our side of the vow which we earnestly recited on the day when we accepted Him as Lord and Saviour (and the many other days when we renewed that vow); He promises that He will always keep His side of the vow.

The relationship between God and the nation of Israel, as depicted in the old testament, is a perfect illustration of this scripture. When I read the old testament, I cannot help but exclaim at how recklessly in love God is. He stakes everything and never looks back.

Ladies and Gentlemen, here is a true and trustworthy saying. Worthy of all confidence.

A perfect God meets a “tough-to-describe” young woman

Eunice Patricia Aber10 Comments

This year’s valentines was the best valentines I had ever had. No I did not receive flowers, and no – there was no candle lit dinner. But there was something particularly beautiful about this valentines. For the first time, in years, I had come to a full realisation of how much I was valued, and how much I was loved by God. It finally occurred to me that I could indeed be God’s Masterpiece. I looked through the canvas of my life and saw an Artist at work. I saw mistakes which had been turned into miracles, disappointments which had been turned into appointments, tears which had been turned into laughter – but more so, I saw a loving hand weaving through every facet of my otherwise tumultuous life.

Therefore, as the 14th day of February 2021 approached, I wondered how I would celebrate my renewed perspective on life, my new found joy and the miraculous fulfilment that I felt deep down in my soul. What better way than to show some Holy PDA by sharing scriptures and portions of the Bible which assure me of God’s profound love for me?

The revelation of God’s love is one of the most important revelations a Christian will have on this other side of eternity (Ephesian 3:14-21). This is because without a deep understanding and a wholesome acceptance of God’s love, we will always find it hard to trust God. Lack of trust (that is lack of faith) poses a great problem because the Bible says that, “without faith, we cannot please God (Hebrews 11:6)” – and yet the joy of the LORD is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). Everything then revolves around our perception of, and appreciation, of God’s love. So, in this 3-part series, which I have affectionately called Every Day Valentine, I will talk about some of the scriptures which touch my heart with the love of God and why they do so. Let’s get into this.

In all honesty, I do not think today’s scripture has the sort of wow factor to it in the sense that I, a human being, would understand a wow factor. For a long time it was just one of the many scriptures I knew and referred to every now and then. But then, towards valentines day, I started to really meditate on it – sometimes unconsciously. And wow! As I was meditating on it, my spirit understood it, my heart felt it and my body accepted it.

You see, meditation to me can best be illustrated by the way a relationship between a man and a woman starts. First, the man declares his affection for the woman. More often than not, the woman has no reciprocal feelings for him and he has never crossed her mind, even as a last resort. However, she makes a slight but potentially dangerous mistake – she continues to entertain him, listen to him and she keeps him around. Then before she knows it, her heart is hooked. And alas! She falls in love with him.

If men, flawed as they are, are able to do this? How about God? If entertaining and listening to a mere mortal man can cause you to fall in love with him and develop feelings for him that were previously non-existent, how about entertaining the Holy Spirit? How about paying attention to the Word – Christ? How about spending time with the Father – God? The Bible is not kidding or suggesting “out-of-reach” methods when it urges us to meditate. Let us make it a point to meditate on the word of God everyday.

Back to the major purpose of this blog. The scripture I am about to present to you gives me the sort of feeling you get when someone you love genuinely (and generously) says “I love you”. To put it in simple terms, this scripture satisfies every longing. It reminds me that there is one who loves me in spite of, and not because of. I pray that you feel the same way when you read it.

God of the Big Picture

Eunice Patricia AberLeave a comment

Today I was studying the book of Ruth and something caught my eye which I had never noticed before. When Ruth got married to Boaz, she conceived and gave birth [almost] immediately (Ruth 4:13). That made me wonder, “Wasn’t Ruth married to Naomi’s son, Mahlon, long enough to have children?” Indeed, when I turned back to Ruth 1, I discovered that the two were married for at least 10 years by the time of Mahlon’s death (Ruth 1: 4-5). The big question then is, “Why?”

Was it for the lack of trying that Ruth did not give birth all those 10 years? Or was it for the lack of interest in having children. My answer to both questions is “No”.

First of all, I say no because Ruth lived between the 4th and 6th Century BC (rough estimate from a quick Google search). During this time, the role of a woman was generally to tend the home and to bear children. Furthermore, “Reproduce and fill the earth” was still a very serious commitment at that time (since the earth was not full at all anyway). Therefore, we cannot say that Ruth and Mahlon were not trying. We also cannot say that they were not interested. Ruth in particular had become really close to this family and from the story, we can see that she desired nothing but to please her mother-in-law, Naomi. Ruth must have been truly interested in having children in order to carry on the family name and so was Naomi and Mahlon.

If Ruth and Mahlon were interested and were trying; and we know from the story that Ruth was not barren [I have thought for a second that Mahlon was the one who could not have children, but I will disregard that thought because there is no precedent in the Bible, that I know of, to indicate that the problem was with the man]. If all of the above was the case, why then didn’t Ruth have children for all the 10 years she was with Mahlon?

Could it be that the delay in childbirth was allowed by God? Could it be that God saw the bigger picture, where one day Ruth would have to go to Bethlehem as a widow and would need a kinsman redeemer?

Let me take a step back and explain myself. When Boaz was having that meeting with his relative and the clan elders in Ruth 4:1-12, he made this statement twice, “[Buy Ruth along with Elimelech’s other possessions]…. in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance”. This means that the major reason (probably only reason) that Ruth was even a part of this [kinsman redemption] transaction is because she had no children with Mahlon and thus it was justified for Boaz to marry her as part of the redemption – so as to preserve Mahlon’s and Elimelech’s lineage.

This is quite profound. If we step back 10 years from the time Ruth gave birth to her first child, we would meet a woman who did not know anything about the bigger picture. A woman who in that moment only thought about the fact that she could not have children and wondered desperately why this was so. She probably prayed earnestly to God; starting every year believing and hoping that it was the year she would conceive and ending the year crushed with disappointment.

Leaving the past and fast forwarding 10 years later, I can imagine Ruth seated at the makeup table on a her wedding day, looking back at the 10 years of disappointment and this time not with despair but with a knowing smile. Understanding finally that God’s delay was indeed not a delay. It was preservation.

I see her holding the beautifully embroidered fabric of her wedding dress; her mind flooded with the light of understanding. The Master had been interweaving a beautiful story behind the painful piercing of failure and disappointment.

On that day, and most profoundly on the day she gave birth to Obed, Ruth understood the God of the Bigger Picture.

2 Peter 3:9 The LORD is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Why I believe in Jesus

Eunice Patricia Aber2 Comments

There is a verse that always comes to my mind when I hear a “why” question about the Christian faith. It’s 1 Peter 3:15b, “… always being prepared to make a defence to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you…”. The first century church faced this question so much so that Peter had to caution his readers to be prepared always to make a defence – to give a logical, reasonable and compelling answer to why they believed in Jesus. A lot has happened since Peter wrote his letter and several decades have passed, but the instruction is still as relevant today as it was then. Whereas Christians in the early church faced completely different challenges (and sometimes more life – threatening) than what we face in current times, the question for which non-believers demand an answer is still the same – “why?”. I hope I can give you, if not a logical, then at least a reasonable and compelling defence for the hope and faith I have in Jesus Christ.

I gave my life to Jesus in my first year of high school. I was 13 then. I was simply attracted by the funny and articulate preachers who came to school and the day I gave my life to Jesus; a group of students had just finished acting a skit. I do not remember a line in the skit but as the last scene was being rolled off the stage, I said in my heart, “I want to be a part of this. I want to be this happy and joyful. I want to have this kind of meaning.” So when the preacher invited those who wanted “to get saved” to come forward, I stepped to the aisle without any hesitation and walked to the altar. I mumbled a few words which I don’t recall and started what has so far been the most long lasting, fulfilling and meaningful relationship in my life.

When I stepped on to that aisle, I did not know what I was signing up for. I did not know a thing about what my future held. I had been a “Christian by association [read birth]” for 13 years, never knowing what it really meant to profess Christianity. It’s been several years since I last walked down that aisle and now I know for sure what I signed up for. It is exactly what I had hoped for – happiness, joy and meaning. I have seen changes in and around me over the years that could have only been possible through the working of a being much more powerful than the forces of nature (including my nature). I have gone through experience upon experience that have sealed the deal for me and have confirmed to me – over and over again – that the decision I made on that sunny afternoon in a high school chapel was the best decision in my life.

When I think of the reason for my faith and hope in Jesus, I am immediately reminded of Jacob. My favourite portion from the book of Genesis comes from Jacob’s monologue in Genesis 28:20-22. However, today I would like to tell you about two other things Jacob said [at the end of his life] which to me best explain why I believe in Jesus. In Genesis 47:9 Jacob answers Pharoah by saying, “my life of wandering has lasted a hundred and thirty years. Those years have been few and difficult [some versions say evil], unlike the long years of my ancestors in their wanderings.”. When one reads these words [alone], they can be tempted to quickly conclude that a life with God is worthless, difficult, short, painful and pointless. But the same Jacob comes back in Genesis 48:15 and says, “…the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil…”.

Upon reading the two scriptures together and with some knowledge of the background and past events in Jacob’s life, it is very clear that when Jacob answered Pharoah in Genesis 47, he was not speaking about God. He was speaking about his life and his choices which had gotten him into a bitter fight with his brother Esau and had sent him on a painful life with an uncle who did not care about him. It even becomes clearer when Jacob declares in Genesis 48 that God had been with him as he was with his ancestors, that God had been his shepherd (I encourage you to go and find out what the work of a shepherd was during those times) and that God had redeemed him from evil (permit me to add – the evil which he got himself into).

Several years after Jacob said these words, one of his descendants had the same conviction about God. Although this descendant had often laboured to keep himself from evil, evil was always lurking around him and stalking him on every side. But his testimony about God is very consistent with Jacob’s testimony in Genesis 48. I wonder if when penning the glorious words in Psalm 23, David remembered his ancestors as Jacob did.

Several centuries after David penned that beautiful Psalm, another of the descendants of Abraham, one whose life is more akin to Jacob’s experience than to David’s. One to whom evil has not shied away and who occasionally, like Jacob, finds herself entangled in places, decisions, experiences she should not be in. Several millennia later, that [adopted] daughter of Abraham has the same conviction.

God [the Father] is Faithful. God [the son – Jesus] is Faithful. God [the Holy Spirit] is Faithful. That is why I believe in Jesus. He is faithful to the poor. He is faithful to the rich. He is faithful to the happy. He is faithful to the broken hearted. He is faithful to the sinner. He is faithful to the righteous. He is faithful to children. He is faithful to parents. He is faithful to kings. He is faithful to servants. God is Faithful yesterday, today and forever!

The story of the cross is a story that explains and affirms one thing – the faithfulness of God. That is why I believe in Jesus!

Scriptures Quoted but not included within the text

Genesis 28:20-22 (ESV) Then Jacob made a vow saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the LORD shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

Psalm 23 (ESV) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.