If indeed you remain in the faith, established and firm, without shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard
Into the Text
God wants us to be established and firm in this faith. He does not want us to be tossed around but to hold fast to the hope of the gospel.
How are we able to hold fast? We do this through knowing who the anchor to our soul is. Remaining steadfast in our faith is not a result of our efforts. It comes from the assurance and confidence that Jesus is who He says He is.
The gospel tells us that while we are miserable sinners before a holy God, we can be reconciled to Him through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a message of hope that one day, we will be raised and presented to God as holy.
Just as the devil tries to keep non-Christians from this gospel hope, he also tries to drag Christians away from it. He will often do it through our pride, our thinking that we are quite good in ourselves. It’s dangerous not to see ourselves as sinners in daily need of God’s grace.
At other times, Satan will make us feel totally hopeless. We will despair of our sin and not believe that Jesus will forgive us yet again. We can also be tempted to shift from hope when we put our trust in our feelings, doubt God’s words, or listen to false teachings about the person and work of Jesus.
If we think that the moment we become Christians the conflict is over, we will be bitterly disappointed. Until we get to heaven, we will always have to fight to stand firm on the hope of the gospel. For the gospel is the trust we must cling to daily.
Let’s not shift from this hope. Let’s hold fast to Jesus, our creator, our head, our redeemer, our everything.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to remain in the faith and not be moved in any way from the hope of the gospel. Amen.