Where is Your Trust?

2 Timothy 1:12-13

“That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day. What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching, with faith and love in Christ Jesus.“

In 210 BC, Emperor Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of China died and was buried. Buried with him were 8,000 terra cotta soldiers. Each one was given the face of a real soldier that served the emperor. The statues were buried with the emperor in the hopes that they would protect him in the afterlife. People put faith in many different things. Some put their faith in science. Some put their faith in soldiers and in military power. What we put our faith in says a lot about who we are.

Paul put his faith in Jesus Christ. He had so much faith in Jesus that he was more than willing to suffer as a result of it. Paul was often imprisoned. He was beaten. He was stoned and left for dead. But still Paul persisted in his faith. Nothing could take his faith in Jesus and in Jesus’ atonement away from him. When Timothy was in danger of persecution for the same faith, Paul encouraged him by saying, “I know whom I have believed and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.” Paul trusted his soul and spirit to Jesus. He trusted that no matter what would happen here on earth, Jesus would take care of the most important part of him: his spirit and soul.

Where are we keeping our treasure? Are we trusting Jesus with the most important part of us: our spirits and our souls? Are we more concerned with what happens to our bodies? It’s time to put our trust in the only thing that has eternal security: the Name of Jesus Christ.

Father, I thank you for your Son Jesus Christ. I thank you that neither life nor death, nor things present nor things to come could ever separate us from your love. You are faithful. You are trustworthy. I can place all my trust in you, knowing that you are able to protect me. There is nothing else that has that security. Only you. You are the only thing that will endure forever. So, God, I give you my heart, my soul, and my spirit. They are yours forever. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.