As New Testament Christians, we are taught that God is always with us. And He is. That’s what eternal life is all about – the moment that you accept Christ as Lord and Savior, your eternal life starts. That means that you don’t have to physically die to start your eternal life – it’s already started the moment that you turn your life over to Jesus.
That kind of talk seems second nature to us. After all, if you grew up in a Christ centered home, as I did, you may have joined the church as a young person and you were undoubtedly baptized, either by sprinkling or immersion – all things that signified a belief in Jesus. And of course, there was Sunday School and all sorts of youth groups that were church based. In my case, I used to go the church after I got out of school and play basketball in the gym or shoot pool in the church basement. Quite a bit of my life revolved around the church – including the church building itself.
Several of my friends didn’t grow up in the same church environment but throughout the years they have come to know Jesus through other avenues. Perhaps they were invited to visit a church or they attended programs with their friends who attended. In any event, churchgoers today didn’t necessarily grow up in the shadow of the church.
For more than 2000 years, God has been faithful with the church and the relationships that we have come to have as a result of our faith and our church attendance. But God didn’t just enter the scene several thousand years ago. Nope… He’s been there, with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, since the beginning of everything – and long before that. In fact, with God there is no beginning and no end. He’s there – eternally…
One of the compelling things about the Old Testament is that God spoke through His prophets – people specifically chosen to represent God to the people – long before the beginning of the New Testament church. One of those prophets, Isaiah, was quite remarkable in some of the things that he said. Among other things, he identified the earth as a sphere long before scientists figured that out. And Isaiah was quick to point out that God was constant – even back then…
The verse for this evening affirms that God is with us – always. Isaiah tells us, in Is. 40:28-29, “Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” Several verses later, Isaiah tells us, in Is. 41:4, “I, the LORD—with the first of them and with the last—I am he.” That’s pretty firm – wouldn’t you say?
My encouragement this evening is that God is with us first, last and always – from everlasting to everlasting. My prayer is that you will take time to realize that God will pursue you your whole life. He wants to be in relationship with you and you can depend on Him. The Lord of the universe is there for you – constantly – and that’s something we should never forget. Have a great day in the Lord, grace and peace…