I recently went to an event with a friend who is a young dad. Midway through the outing, he took his 2-year-old son, Cam, for a walk. I watched as my friend held his son’s hand and led him safely down the sidewalk and back, as cars passed a few feet away.
It hit me that while Cam’s little hand held onto his dad, it was his father’s hand that kept him safe. No matter how weakly Cam’s little hand gripped—and even if he let go momentarily through inattentiveness or rebellion—there was no way his father’s strong hand would let him go. Cam was safe in his father’s hold.
After watching this interaction, I couldn’t help but think about our relationship to God, as his children. Through faith, we hold on to God with our little hands. In our best moments, we cling to him. But even our tightest clinging isn’t strong enough to provide the perfect and eternal security we long for. We’re simply too weak. Too inattentive. Too rebellious. Too prone to wander, as the hymn writer puts it.
And yet, just as weak and inattentive little Cam was perfectly safe in his father’s hold, so, too, God wants us to know the security of his grip on us. Jesus says, “I give them eternal life, and… no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand” (John 10:28–29).
The perfect and eternal security we long for comes not from our weak little grip on our Father, but from his strong and eternal grip on us.
Maybe you feel like you’re just barely holding on today. Maybe you’re walking through a season of suffering, and you feel like your grip on God is weaker than usual. Maybe you sinned in some way this past week, and it felt like—for a moment—you lost your grip on God entirely.
Can I remind you, dear child of God, that your Father is still holding you—just as tightly as ever? He has not let you go, and he will never let you go.
Friend, your ultimate security is not fluctuating with your performance or circumstances. You are safe in your Father’s hold. Rest today in this perfect security.
Watch or listen to the rest of this sermon here.
I am grateful for you!
Blake
Blake Glosson (MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary) is an associate pastor at Chapelstreet Church in Geneva, Illinois. He has been published and/or republished or referred by:
- The Gospel Coalition
- Life Bible
- Crosswalk
- Eternal Perspective Ministries (Randy Alcorn)
- Challies.com/Tim Challies (here, here, and here)
- Ann Voskamp
- DashHouse (Darryl Dash)
- Moody Radio (here, here, and here)
- The JOY FM (here and here)
- ChurchLeaders.com
- Monergism.com
- The Aquila Report (here, here, here, and here)
Previously, Blake served as the director of young adults at New Covenant Bible Church in St. Charles, Illinois.
Read “4 Ways to Combat Fear of Man” here.
Watch or listen to more of Blake’s recent sermons here.
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