News

Enjoy this week's devotional!

May 12, 2025

"BLESSED ASSURANCE"

     Some airline passengers were waiting to take off from Detroit Metro Airport (DTW) and were listening to the flight attendant welcoming them. She stumbled repeatedly over which destination cities they were bound for; but then an authoritative voice came over the intercom saying: "I'm your pilot, folks. And don't worry--I know where we're going!" How reassuring to know that the one to whom you have entrusted your travel plans knows where he is going and how to get there!

     When Jesus told His disciples that He was soon leaving and returning to His "Father's house" He promised, "I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going." But "Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way'," to which Jesus replied: "I am the way,  the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me" (Jn. 14:2-6).  Not only does Jesus know the way,  He is "the way" to get to heaven, and He will take us there.  He is not just one of many ways, He is the only way. "Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'Rulers and elders of the people...there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved' " (Acts 4:8,12). And the Apostle Paul wrote: "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all..." (I Tim. 2:5,6). 

     When we acknowledge that we are "dead in trespasses and sin,...God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, makes us alive together with Christ...and raises us up with Him and seats us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:1,4-6).

   Christianity is not just a "hope so," but a "know so" faith. John writes: "And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order that you may know that you have eternal life"  (I Jn. 5:11-13).  If we have put our trust in Jesus, we can be assured of our destination--eternal life with Jesus in heaven. Paul, in writing to Timothy, said: "For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day" (II Tim. 1:12).  And, the Apostle Peter wrote: "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (I Pet. 1:3-5). 

     I love the old classic hymn, Blessed Assurance, by Fanny Crosby. The first stanza says, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine! Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood."  What "blessed assurance" to know that before the foundation of the world, God chose us in Christ (Eph. 1:4) and will not change His mind about us, but will see to it that we reach our destination--His very presence. "Now unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to make you stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy, to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen!" (Jude 24,25).

     Are you certain of your destiny? If so, thank Jesus today. If not, confess Him as your Lord and Savior, and abide in Him. He knows the way. He IS the way!  He will get you to your destination.

Forever His,
Pastor Dave