Hey, Cobblestone,
Maybe you’ve noticed: the English language is amazingly
versatile. Maybe you’ve also noticed: the English language can make you a
little crazy with its versatility. Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a
parkway? Why is the word “abbreviation” so long? I’m sure you could add to the
list of maddening ambiguities.
Somewhere on the list, we would have to include the word
“fast.” Fast means stationary. No, it doesn’t – fast means speedy. Actually, it
means both. How the same four-letter word came to mean its own opposites is
beyond me. Guess I’ll have to declare which one we’re talking about in today’s
letter, the second installment in the “Encouragement Checkup” nano-series. So,
which one is it? Let’s go with… both.
Leaning first into the “stationary” meaning, the Bible has a
great example in the passage we studied in church a few weeks ago:
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,
for he who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:23).
We, and the confession of our hope, are stationary in
relation to one another – like the grizzled old sailor holding fast the rail of
his ship in a storm. This voyage has a route. It also has a destination. The
route includes storms, but the destination is absolutely worth gaining. We hold
fast. The best news: assurance doesn’t come through the fierceness of our grip;
rather, assurance comes through the faithfulness of the one who promised the
destination.
And how soon would be soon enough to hold fast? Here’s where
we get into the “speedy” meaning of fast. Yesterday would be soon enough to
begin holding fast. Can’t be soon enough. Time’s a-wastin’. No line, no
waiting. In other words…
Be fast to hold fast.
Unlike mortal pursuits, God’s purposes are set. He called his
shot from eternity past. Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is
the Lord’s purpose that prevails (Proverbs 19:21). In merely mortal
pursuits, circumstances are like the bumpers in a pinball machine – random and
harsh. And no matter how good the pinball player is, the ball is eventually
going down a hole. God’s purposes for his kids have a declared ending; the
route leads to glory and unspeakable joy. Long ago, he inspired the beloved disciple,
John, to write…
Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we
will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he
appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he
is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is
pure (1John 3:2-3).
Jesus is the model, the embodiment, of where we’re headed –
all who have put their trust in him. And Jesus is the radiance of the glory
of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3). When this
thing comes full circle, when time folds back into eternity, we will be like
Jesus, who is the radiance of the glory of God. Of all the things I’ve wanted
to be over the years – astronaut, engineer, the smartest guy in the room – this
one stands above the rest, and sounds more appealing all the time.
What about the storms? Why can’t we just do the lazy-river
ride to our destination? Well, in many aspects, we actually are – simply
because Jesus did the hardest parts. Humanity only needs one Atonement to pay
for sins, one Resurrection to secure our own, one consummation of the Kingdom
forever. Humanity also needs to experience much of what Jesus came here to
experience: For as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so
through Christ our comfort also overflows (2Corinthians 1:5). Besides,
lazy-river rides just loop around in circles.
From the passage we talked about in church a few weeks ago –
Hebrews 10:19-25 – we drew three clear instructions:
1.
Draw
near (to God)
2.
Hold
fast (the profession of our hope)
3.
Encourage
(one another)
Looks like the first thing was first, and the second thing is
in its rightful place as well. Granted, both of those need practice and
proving, which is well and good since the third one rests on the success of the
first two. Encouragement lives or dies on authenticity (or lack of), but we’ll
talk more about that in the next letter.
Glory to God, we don’t have to stay the way we are! Beyond
courteous and polite, civil and refined, we can be infinitely more: little-j
jesuses, sharing in what King Jesus suffered, becoming those through whom
comfort overflows. And ultimately, we shall be like him. We shall see him as he
is, and be like him.
Be fast to hold fast – we are bound, on the Father’s word,
for glory.
Grace and Peace (looking to Jesus),
John
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