Seeing It Through to the End – December 9, 2021

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Philippians 1:3-6

Seeing It Through to the End

Pastor Ron was blessed to serve all 46 years of his ministry in one congregation. He had walked alongside at least two generations of believers during the various stages of their lives. For several members of the church, Pastor Ron was the only pastor they had had from their baptism to their burial. As sad as those funerals were, they also gave the pastor a source of joy. Another soul bought by the blood of Christ had been led safely to their heavenly home.

It doesn’t always happen that a Christian is served by the same pastor their entire lives. More often, the Lord provides a series of spiritual shepherds to accompany you through the ups and downs of your walk with Christ. The most important thing, of course, is to recognize that it is God himself who is guiding you through his messengers. He is the one who called you to repentance and worked the miracle of faith in your heart through baptism. He is the one who blew on the sputtering embers of your faith and caused it to grow as you learned about him in Sunday School and catechism classes. He is the one who continues to send people into your life to bring you back to him when you start to stray. And God is also the one who will give you the strength to remain in that humble yet confident faith until the end.

Prayer:
Lord God, I thank you for all the pastors, teachers, and others you have sent into my life to bring me to faith and to keep me close to you. Above all, I thank you for sending your Son, Jesus. He saw my salvation through to completion, coming to this world as a servant, dying on the cross as my substitute, and rising to life as my Savior. I trust that you will keep me close to him in faith until the day that I see him with my own eyes. Amen.