ICS Daily Devotions
A Floodproof Foundation
Luke 6:47-48 (NKJV) “Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock. And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house, and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.”
Resilience is the ability to bounce back from a setback in life. The Christian faith is a very personal faith in God, and how resilient we are is dependent on the foundation we have built in our hearts. It has to do with knowing God and His character, including what He will or will not do as our God and Saviour. Because we have the full counsel of the Word, we can articulate our conviction as we fight the onslaught of the attack.
We should have no fear in us because understanding the perfect love of God for us will remove all fear, including any fear about God and the coming judgement. Fear is one of the weapons that the devil uses to attack and torment us. For Christians, the sting of death has been removed and voided of its power against us. The worst-case scenario for sickness and illness is physical death. Even though separation from loved ones is undeniably painful and a cause of grief, Christians don’t need to be fearful of death because as soon as we breathe our last breath, we will be in the presence of God—that’s the confidence we hold and one of the foundations that will enable us to be resilient.
Another foundational truth we need to establish in our lives is the perfect love of God. Ever since the fall of mankind, God has relentlessly pursued us with His love. He knows that we are helpless and spiritually bankrupt because nobody can earn acceptance from God in their own strength and through good works, there is no way mankind can redeem themselves from the penalty of sin. He pursued us and established an unconditional covenant with Abraham to send forth His Son Jesus Christ to die for us on the cross of Calvary. As Abraham’s spiritual descendants, we inherit the blessing of having God as our covenant partner, and His obligating Himself to face all of our challenges, including the sin issue that separated us from God. Jesus was made sin for us on the cross and took upon Himself the curse of the law. As a result, Jesus established a new and everlasting covenant for us through His shed blood, one that won’t allow any of us to be separated from God’s unconditional love from now to eternity. Whenever we partake of the Holy Communion, we are reminded of our covenant with Him, His unconditional love and proactive commitment to love us and to never forsake us in all circumstances.
Sermon Series: Resilience
