Stuff wears out. Brendalyn P. and I have lived, at the time of this writing, in our humble abode about twenty years. During that tenure, we have replaced a washer, stove, toilets, and even the kitchen sink! Eyeing a new refrigerator right now, we’ll try to limp this one along a bit longer.
The technical term for this frustrating phenomenon is “Planned Obsolescence”. Conspiracy theorists infer that Detroit and ...China... construct things with an operational shelf-life so we will have to buy another! I don’t know if that’s true, but evidence is mounting! Oh, and by the way, just last week I carted our old TV to the dump.
When my Doctor informed me that my painful right knee is a prime candidate for eventual replacement, I could no longer constrain myself. I reminded my friendly physician that he rarely heals with a lifetime guarantee. Rather, he makes me just well enough, just long enough, to save just money enough to return with my next malady! On a roll, I contrasted that when I pray for somebody, the answer does not come with a time limitation. My trade is eternity!
Here comes a little bible. Hebrews 7:25 affirms, “He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.” Jesus confidently asserted, “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one is able to snatch them out of my hand.” (Jn 10:28). For the record, that doctrine is called, Eternal Security. (And indeed, I know the Arminian perspective verses such as Hebrews 6:6, II Peter 5:21, and I John 5:16.)
When I was young, I figured if I stepped spiritually out of line, that I could lose my salvation. (One practical benefit; it helped keep me on the straight and narrow.) Now that I have grown a bit, lived and learned a bit, I think a somewhat differently. It seems to me that once God makes me His child, I’m not sure I can do anything to un-make me His child. True, I can forfeit the benefits of my spiritual sonship, but surely His grace and the sufficiency of the cross can see me all the way home!
This truth offers me a deeper level of freedom in my faith. Now, instead of walking the line because I have to, I stay on course because I want to. After all, what use is freedom if you aren’t free to use it?
Meanwhile, back to my rant. Stuff wears out. My body is living (make that dying) proof. No worries! II Corinthians 4:16 aligns my sights, “Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though our outer man is wasting away, inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
Now that’s a warranty!