I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard unitl that day that which I have entrusted to Him 2nd Timothy 1:12
My children love sticker charts. They earn stickers for good behaviour, school work and chores and delight as those little boxes fill up with stars. Each full sticker chart has around a $5 in our home. Our six year old twin boys cannot wait to fill one and spend it as quickly as they can. It is like the potential of what they could buy with that $5 is burning a hole in their pocket and they can not rest until it is spent, usually wasting it on some novelty that doesn’t last five minutes. Our 8 year old daughter loves to save them. She carefully stores them away, resisting the temptation to spend as her brothers are. One day she will present me with a whole stack of sticker charts and explain how she has planned to use them for a perfect day in the city with Mom. Coffee date, a meal out and some time at the American Girl store, she has the whole day planned. She is saving and banking these treasured sticker charts, resisting instant gratification because she is putting her hope in an epic day which is to come.
What temporary things are we being asked to sacrifice now, to entrust to Jesus against that epic day and eternity which is to come?
Paul is writing this verse to Timothy while in prison in Rome, just before he is killed. At this point he has surrendered every earthly right, comfort and freedom to God, entrusting all to Him against that day. He is fully convinced that He whom he has trusted is able.
If I have accepted Jesus as my saviour and entrusted my soul to Him against that day then why is it so hard to entrust things of lesser value and significance than my soul to Him? I struggle trusting him with my day to day decisions, my finances, relationships, the people I love.
The disciples left their families, their family business, their father and hired servants, their income and homes in order to follow Jesus at a point of abundance, when they have had the biggest catch of fish ever. They are asked to entrust their business to Him and walk away when it is at it’s most successful.
Maybe we are asked to move to a new place, to change job or to give financially. Maybe we are wrestling with entrusting a person, a relationship or a situation to God when we want to hold on to it and seek to control it. Can we believe He is faithful and able to guard it against that day?
Joseph entrusted his future and his dreams when it made no sense. Abraham entrusted his son Isaac to God and that was not the first child he had to entrust to God.
Can we believe that if He is asking us to entrust these things to Him it is for our good, so we can run this race without this weight, so we can experience His sufficiency and goodness? Can we believe He is a gentle, good God who cares about our tears? That He desires our good and the good of those we love?
The only one who did this perfectly was Jesus. He entrusted himself to the Father, being made like man, living in weakness, surrendering His rights and entrusting all He loved to His Father. He did this in dependance on the Father and only through His indwelling life can we follow Him and do the same.
What are you entrusting to Him today so you can enter His rest , live in freedom and know Him more fully?
