Hebrews 10:26-39. Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward.

When everything in life goes well, it is easy to retain the confidence that we have in Christ Jesus. After all, if things are going well, doesn't that mean that God loves us and is blessing us?

It is when things go wrong, when we do wrong, that our confidence slips. And if things go badly enough, we abandon that confidence and are left alone, bereft, wondering where God is, why God has abandoned us.

The confidence that pervades Sudan sometimes makes no sense. Things go badly every single day. People die of easily treatable diseases for lack of medicine. Bandits kill simply because they can. And yet, the people retain their confidence that God is blessing them, that God has redeemed them, that God has both promised and given them salvation.

It all depends on how you define salvation. Here, we are working with a new, direct definition: Salvation is new life, lived in love, now. It is not something that comes later, but is part of our present lives.

When we keep that in front of us, when we live into that definition, we are able to retain the confidence we have, and to receive its great reward.

PRAY for the Diocese of Arkansas (Province VII, USA)

Ps 55 * 138, 139:1-17(18-23); Genesis 18:1-16; John 6:16-27

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