Last year I wrote a devotional called “God’s grip on you.”

I don’t normally do repeats, but as I was thinking about what to share with you today, it struck me that there might be some people who need to hear this message again. Perhaps a global pandemic has given you a shake and you need the reminder. Might it be you? Here it is:
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No matter how often we’re told otherwise, it’s easy to slip back into the thinking that God only loves us if we do a really, really good job of loving  him back.

All the time.

‘If we’re really bad,’ we think, ‘he won’t forgive us.’ ‘If we miss the mark, have an off day (or year), or blow our second, third or fourth chance,’ we think, ‘he’ll stop caring.’

But being “in Christ” is not a fickle affair. It’s a phrase Paul uses many times in the Bible. One example is Romans 8:1 where he says that “there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus…” No condemnation. In Christ, we are enveloped, surrounded, and embraced by the love of a God whose grip on us is thoroughly stronger that our grip on him.

When I was young, my brother Jason started to sleepwalk. It didn’t happen all the time, but it certainly happened some of the time. So when he and my dad went on a camping trip out into the deep woods, it was obviously a concern.

To ensure my brother didn’t sleepily wander out of their tent and get lost in the middle of the night, my dad tied a rope from his ankle to my brother’s ankle before they went asleep. They were bound together.

So it is when you are “in Christ.”

You are secure. God’s grip on you is greater than your grip on him.

By Matthew Ruttan

—This Sunday, October 11th at 10:01am (EST) I’ll be leading an (online) Thanksgiving Sunday service. I’ll share a message called “Faith and faithfulness” and lead us in the Lord’s Supper here.

–My latest blog: “Coping with our broken illusion of control.”

–“Up!” is published 5 days a week (Monday-Friday) and returns on October 12.

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.