Keeper

Greetings, friends. Just a brief stop on our journey today. I have had the joy of attending a youth conference today with nine teens from our church and about 490 other teens from around the area. My mind is a bit mushy and my heart overflowing with delight for the ways many of our teens met with Jesus! Today we will look at how Jesus ‘keeps’ each one of us--protecting and providing for us as only He can do.

There are many things we are charged by God’s Word ‘to keep.’ We are to keep: our lives free of the love of money, our tongues under a tight rein, our hearts pure, our unity with the Holy Spirit and the Sabbath holy. In fact, scripture tells us our love for God is revealed in our efforts to ‘keep His commands.‘ God desires for us to accept responsibilities but praise His glorious wisdom, He holds the most critical responsibility for Himself. Though He gives us tasks to do, His Word teaches us that God alone has the job of our ‘Keeper.’ Our eternal souls are in the hands of the only One who is worthy: Jesus Christ.

I am comforted to know that my faith, my life is kept by God not me. Though I am growing and learning to find my strength in Him, I am vulnerable to drifting, lazy eyes, to stubbornness and selfishness, to fear and discouragement. But God is not and I am secure in Him. I rejoice that I can declare with Paul that my God is able to keep that which I have entrusted to Him. I have entrusted myself--my desires, my loved ones, my work and my destiny to Jesus alone. It wasn't always that way. It was Motherhood which revealed to me the depths of my own inadequacies. My first baby revealed to me that what I most cared about was beyond my knowledge and power…the struggles my child would face, his dangers and heartaches were in large part out of my control. Before Motherhood, I had felt able to make a way to meet my desires (or ignore them). Facing my inadequacy as a mother, drove me to Jesus--just as He no doubt intended.

God is the keeper of our souls and knows what each one needs. He is keeping us...protecting and providing for us--and for those we love. May we all learn the blessedness of living this truth--of having our minds kept in perfect peace by our Keeper. He is able and willing. Are we?