Our Savior Today
Our Savior Today
Jesus is a heroic warrior that not even hell can defeat.
The temptation is always there to let our imaginations run wild. It’s easy for us to imagine all the ways things can go wrong. Fear about what has, and what does, and what might go wrong can cripple us. It can crush our spirit. Our whole life can be shut down when we let our imaginations run wild.
Imagine all the bad things that can happen to us. Isn't it unbearable? Will we be able to endure it? Are we ashamed, embarrassed, or horrified by all the bad things we imagine can happen to us?
We love to give in to the temptation. We're addicted to letting our imagination run wild. But, the past and future have no power over us. God gives us to the present. Today is given to us. That's our limit. God doesn't give us to yesterday or tomorrow. He doesn't open the way for us to live five years, days, hours, or minutes in the past or future. We're given now, the present moment. Nothing else.
Jesus said, "Don't be anxious about tomorrow, because tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble" (Matt 6:34).
Today's trouble will find us. We can't hide from sin, escape from sinners, or avoid Satan. They'll attack us because we're baptized and they hate Jesus. In baptism, we've been crucified with Christ. It's no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. The life we now live in the flesh we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us (Gal 2:20).
We live a baptized life, which means we've been crucified with Christ. Christ lives in us, and look at what they did to him. Now imagine what they're going to do to us.
Jesus is a heroic warrior that not even hell can defeat.
That's why the apostle paints a picture of our baptized life as a military campaign. It's why Paul urges his readers to keep watch. They're instructed to hold the line against sin, sinners, and Satan. Paul understands that life is a battle. It's long and the front line changes every day. So keep watch like a soldier and do everything commanded. And, as for yesterday and tomorrow, there are enough difficulties in this battle. Don't add needless fear and anxiety to today's' trouble by letting your imagination run wild.
Instead, we live in our baptism. We rejoice that Christ lives in us. Jesus is a heroic warrior that not even hell can defeat. He brings down the strongest of the strong. He judges those who fight against us. Even when we're beaten down, defeated, and destroyed he raises the dead.
Jesus crushes and heals our enemies. He kills and makes alive. There's nobody who can snatch us out of his grip (Deut 32:39). He does all this for us today because there's no God besides him.
So don't be anxious about tomorrow. Tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for today is our Jesus who loves us and gives himself to us. He is our God, our mighty warrior. He is Jesus, our Savior today.
