Chrysostom
Beloved of All
It is a faithful and true word that you are still on time for what God has planned for you, and it is right to receive it with thanksgiving. Scripture says faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. This means faith does not only wait for what God has promised, it makes those unseen promises firm and substantial in your soul now, as sure as what you can see with your eyes. The resurrection, the mercy, the future God has prepared, these are held by faith with the same assurance as present things.
For that reason hold fast your confidence and the rejoicing of your hope firm to the end. We are God's house if we do this, not by hiding or being ashamed or giving in to discouragement, but by glorying in what He has promised as if it had already come to pass. To hold fast means to keep trusting and obeying day by day, in little things and in great, at home and abroad and in the church.
If you feel you have wasted time or have fallen into sin and lost ground, do not despair. It is the mark of a generous soul not only to run well at the first, but after many crowns have been lost through falling, to rise again and resume the same course with hope. God is able to restore and to set you on your path again.
Do not listen to the thought that your life is fixed by fate or necessity and cannot be changed. That is not from God, who has given you freedom and calls you to choose Him. Turn to Him in prayer, not in complaint, but in trust, and ask for strength to walk upright. He hears, He forgives, and He will bring to completion the good work He has begun in you as you continue with Him.
For that reason hold fast your confidence and the rejoicing of your hope firm to the end. We are God's house if we do this, not by hiding or being ashamed or giving in to discouragement, but by glorying in what He has promised as if it had already come to pass. To hold fast means to keep trusting and obeying day by day, in little things and in great, at home and abroad and in the church.
If you feel you have wasted time or have fallen into sin and lost ground, do not despair. It is the mark of a generous soul not only to run well at the first, but after many crowns have been lost through falling, to rise again and resume the same course with hope. God is able to restore and to set you on your path again.
Do not listen to the thought that your life is fixed by fate or necessity and cannot be changed. That is not from God, who has given you freedom and calls you to choose Him. Turn to Him in prayer, not in complaint, but in trust, and ask for strength to walk upright. He hears, He forgives, and He will bring to completion the good work He has begun in you as you continue with Him.
