Our family took the Christmas decorations down last week. It was my job to take the lights off the house. I’ll admit I was a little nervous. The extension ladder has a weight limit of 200lbs and well…let’s just say I was a little nervous.
I am happy to say it the lights came down and I was held up. If the ladder held me up at 200+ lbs I am absolutely confident it will hold me up next year at this time after I’ve dropped a few pounds. It’s called an argumentum a fortiori. Literally it means “an argument from the stronger.” It’s an argument that says if there’s confidence in one claim, there can be even greater confidence in a lesser related claim. If the ladder held me up at 215 lbs. I can be confident it will hold me if I weight 195 lbs.
What does this have to do with you?
God knew you in eternity and chose you to be his own. He created the world with you on his mind and filled it with beauty. He knew you would need a substitute, so he gave up his throne to take your place. He lived perfectly and died innocently to forgive you. He rose from the grave to assure you it was all true. Then he made sure to write it all in the bible to tell it to you. He fashioned you in your mother’s womb and then sent his spirit to claim you. He gave you a new heart and a new life in this family.
God did all that for you when you were his enemy. Spiritually dead, ignorant, and hostile to God are the words the Bible uses to describe you and me before God did all that. There was nothing appealing about our character, our behavior, or even our potential that was worth saving. But in love, while we were his enemies, God did everything necessary to bring us into his family and make us his friends.
If God loved you like that when you were his enemy, how confident of his love and care can you be now that you’re his friend. Absolutely confident. It’s an argumentum a fortiori. Because he loved you then, you can be certain he loves you now. Repeated falls into sin? The mess you’ve made of your life? A world gone mad? Nothing will keep him from loving and caring for you. Through Jesus, you’re in good with God, which means, you’re good, period. Absolute confidence.
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life! – Romans 5:10
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