People are frequently taken in by a “sure thing.” We like the idea of a guaranteed result with no risk, no loss, and no waste of time.
Friends may suggest that using the latest diet you will surely drop ten pounds, with minimal effort and no change of eating habits. Pundits and experts think there is no way to lose the election. The football team is a shoe-in for the playoffs (so place your bets…). We even respond to requests in a way that appeals to the desire for guarantee: “sure thing, Dad/son/honey/boss…”
But the sure thing becomes not so sure when we run into that box of donuts or bag of chips. The election is not a cinch when skeletons leap from the candidate’s closet. Injuries and drug problems and payoffs jeopardize the playoffs. And on the way to perform that “sure thing” for whomever we step from the curb and get run over by a chicken truck.
Though we are quite familiar with the aphorism that “nothing is certain but death and taxes,” we fall for the pretenders, anyway.
Our gullibility reveals a deep desire for something to be certain, and, well, death and taxes don’t quite satisfy.
What does satisfy is knowing that God will accomplish his plan.
Jesus displayed this certainty, the “sure thing” of God’s plan, as he faced persecution and death. He prayed in John 17 that he had done all that God gave him to do, that he had kept all the people that God had given him. As he symbolically crossed the Kidron brook, which flowed with the blood of animals sacrificed for the annual Passover festival, he anticipated his arrest, trial, torture and death with certainty (John 18 & 19).
One with his Father, Jesus was certain that whatever he faced was part of God’s plan of redemption, and that God was surely going to accomplish what he set out to do: Jesus would surely obey his Father in all things, Jesus would surely testify to truth, Jesus would surely die as a substitute for humans, Jesus’ sacrifice would surely satisfy God’s justice and avert his wrath, and all those that God had called would surely be saved.
Want in on a “sure thing”?
Repent and believe the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ, and God will surely save you.