It's "WHOM"---not "WHAT"

II Timothy 1:12
For this reason I also suffer these things never the less I am not ashamed for I know WHOM I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

Boy if I could ever lay hold of something, it would be this truth that Paul has written.
This connection between God and himself was more than a religious idea.
More than a concept and dynamic. It was life. And it wasn't life that was determined by any situation or circumstance. IT was life that flew and flourished in the face of adversity.

I fear that sometimes I may be a "fair weather" believer. That I am all up in God when the sun is shinning and the birds are chirping. When everything is going right and good, it's all about how great God is. I want what Paul has. The belief and trust that no matter what happens around me, or what happens to me, God is still God. All powerful.........all knowing..........omnipresent. That He is not just a participant in this word, but rather is the force of love and right that is at work in the hearts of all people. 

I see so much disillusionment in people who come out of addiction and wonder why they still have so much pain and trouble in their life. Sometimes they will come to me and have this look on their face that seems to say, "Hey--I gave myself to this program and this God you said would help me. Why is my life still so hard?" Why? Because life is hard. Life is problems. Life is successes and failures....you win, you loose, you wish you had not scheduled some of them games. Life is life. And yet................wait for it......and yet, in the middle of all the mess. There in the center of the storm stand the only one who loves us with a love that is immeasurable wanting to guide us through whatever it is we are facing. That would be God.

I like how Paul stated his beliefs in the II Timothy 1:12 passage. Paul said the he knew WHOM he believed. Not WHAT. Sometimes I think we get his backwards. We study the Scripture, searching and looking for something to build our life on, the whole time ignoring the one who authored that Scripture. 

It the same behavior I see in some who are working the Twelve Steps. They focus solely on the dynamics of what the steps are calling them to do, and they loose sight of the One who wants to provide the POWER for them to be successful. As a good friend once told me...."Mike, you can't work those steps properly and not bump your head on the cross." In other words, you are going to run into Jesus. May we all run into Him today. May we never quit running into Him.

Stay strong...
God on you....
mb