A Trustworthey Statement

          Here is a trustworthy saying:

If we died with him,
    we will also live with him;
if we endure,
    we will also reign with him.
If we disown him,
    he will also disown us;
if we are faithless,
    he remains faithful,
    for he cannot disown himself.

                                                (II Timothy 2:11-13)

          There’s no indication of where this trustworthy saying came from. There aren’t any cross-references. But, such promises!

          If we died with Him Past tense, not present, not future. Dying isn’t something most of us do willingly, but once it happens, it doesn’t have to happen over and over. Yes, there is a progressive reality called sanctification that we must accept, but sanctification is the growing realization of reality, not a repetition of reality. If…then… we will also live with him.

          If we endure. This is tougher. There’s time involved. But the reality is that we’re going to endure, whether we like it or not. It’s like behaving and believing. We either behave well, or we behave badly, but the only way to not behave is to be dead. We can believe one way or another, but we can’t believe nothing and we can’t believe A and -A at the same in the same way without enduring an unhealthy contradiction. We can endure life on earth followed by eternity in heaven, or life on earth followed by eternity in hell. Either way, we’re enduring. If we endure as Christians, we’ll rein with him.

          If we disown him. This is a little more challenging. It could suggest that salvation can be lost. But another way to look at it, especially in light of the next statement, is that those who disown Jesus never owned him in the first place – no matter how much they protest that they did. Going through the motions and saying the words doesn't mean we have any faith in Christ.  It could be like saying "Hi, how are you?" to people we know even when we don't care how they are.What this piece tells me is that it would do each of us good to examine what we believe.

          If we are faithless. Wait! What? Isn’t it impossible to please Him without faith? (Hebrews 11) Aren’t faithfulness what dying with him, enduring, and owning him what faith is all about? The answer is “yes,” but the reality is that we aren’t the only participants in this drama. While we think we’re in the starring role in our stories, the reality is that we play a supporting role. God is the star. Our failures don’t stop God from being God. He’s going to keep his promises. He’s going to accomplish his purposes. Our failures won’t stop Him. They don’t change His relationship to Himself. That doesn’t free us to be deliberately horrible to him or to one another, but it frees us and eases our path because He’s not going to be different tomorrow.