Jesus Promises to Hold Onto You and Never Let You Go

Suggested Reading: Luke 2:41-51

And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks o the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”—John 6:39-40

<p class="has-drop-cap has-medium-font-size" value="<amp-fit-text layout="fixed-height" min-font-size="6" max-font-size="72" height="80">At times, even the most seasoned Christians can worry about their eternity. It’s easy and tempting to begin questioning and fretting about where we will end up when this life is over. So much comes to shake us from what we know, have learned, and believe to be true about our eternity with the Lord in heaven. We might be feeling our sins have been so enormous and numerous, that they have “reached all the way up to heaven” and we are ashamed to lift our face up to God, as the priest Ezra confessed to God in Ezra, chapter 9. We might be focusing on our failures, our mistakes, our abandoned promises and forgotten vows we made to God or feeling distant from God and unsure of his unconditional love and forgiveness. We may be in a spiritual drought and questioning everything about our faith in God and his faithful promises over us, and always, daily, the devil is doing everything and anything he can to disrupt our peace and bring a wedge between us and the blessed assurance Jesus gives. When we are feeling this way or having any doubt about going to heaven it’s more than likely we are focusing too much at ourselves instead of on the person and work of Christ on the cross and the faithfulness of God. It may be surprising to learn that even this kind of mindset is prideful. Pride makes us feel getting into heaven depends upon us and not on faith and grace alone.  At times, even the most seasoned Christians can worry about their eternity. It’s easy and tempting to begin questioning and fretting about where we will end up when this life is over. So much comes to shake us from what we know, have learned, and believe to be true about our eternity with the Lord in heaven. We might be feeling our sins have been so enormous and numerous, that they have “reached all the way up to heaven” and we are ashamed to lift our face up to God, as the priest Ezra confessed to God in Ezra, chapter 9. We might be focusing on our failures, our mistakes, our abandoned promises and forgotten vows we made to God or feeling distant from God and unsure of his unconditional love and forgiveness. We may be in a spiritual drought and questioning everything about our faith in God and his faithful promises over us, and always, daily, the devil is doing everything and anything he can to disrupt our peace and bring a wedge between us and the blessed assurance Jesus gives. When we are feeling this way or having any doubt about going to heaven it’s more than likely we are focusing too much at ourselves instead of on the person and work of Christ on the cross and the faithfulness of God. It may be surprising to learn that even this kind of mindset is prideful. Pride makes us feel getting into heaven depends upon us and not on faith and grace alone.  

But thanks be to God he does not want us to live life wondering or fretting about our outcome after death, but assures us through his word that we are safe in the arms of Jesus from the moment he opened his arms to us and we will never be taken from him. The issue is not whether we will let go of him or lose our way from time to time in our lifetime but that he will never let go of us.   

Jesus’ promise to never lose us reminds me of an occasion when our children were growing up and we had guests from out of town. During our visit to one of the large malls in our city our son became separated from us for a brief period of time. How frantic we were as we searched for him. One moment he was with us and the next he was not. As I went to the information desk to report him missing my husband continued looking for him. Shortly after he showed up with our son tow, who was smiling ear to ear and oblivious of all the fuss and panic. It seems he had found a spot in front of the cookie shop and that’s where he stayed even though the rest of us had continued walking. To this day I suffer with the parents of missing children and my heart is in prayerful anguish until hearing of their safe return.

How easily our son become separated from us, but Christ assures us, nothing will take us from him, no matter what we face or experience in this life and on our journey we are his and he is ours. Our eternity and destiny after death is not dependent upon what we do (or do not do), it is not based upon our diligence in worship, our faithfulness in prayer, our aptitude for memorizing the scriptures, or personal goodness, but on Christ alone.

The promises of God, scattered throughout the Bible are purposely and perfectly placed to take the guess-work out of whether we will go to heaven or not, to eliminate the uncertainty that Satan instigates during moments and seasons of spiritual vulnerability. And the promise of Jesus to all who have received him as their Lord and their Savior, cannot be reversed. Let’s Pray,

Dear God, so much comes to us that ends up becoming a worry. Just like Jesus told Martha, we are worried over many things but only one thing is needful and that is our trust in what you have written for us that we may not be worried but confident when this life is over we will return home to heaven. Jesus, our Savior will not let us go so let us walk in faith and peace, putting our trust in his promise and not in ourselves. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.