“Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” ~ A. A. Milne
It is easy to lose sight of what is of ‘first importance’ when all the circumstances and desires of life crowd into our thinking. It’s happened to me while sitting here writing this message… ‘Who will even care anyway, most will ignore and delete before even considering the words’… While that may be true, if I were to dwell there, all that is ‘of first importance’ would become as a memory, as if I read it in some fictional work.
What shakes me loose from that miry trap is ‘hope.’ Christ is alive and is about the Fathers work of saving lives … of which I get to participate. Each and every day, there is hope that someone I speak to will turn from their selfish desires and appetites and grasp hold of Jesus’ hand with hope!
Growing up, Aunt Jane would read to me from a set of two red books by A A Milne. They were about the great theologian Winnie the Pooh. There is a line in that story that she always emphasized, it was “Promise me you’ll always remember: You’re braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think.” The quote goes on to say, “But the most important thing is, even if we are apart… I will always be with you.” During my childhood, Aunt Jane filled that role, but as I grew older, she pushed me to understand ‘of first importance’ that it was Jesus who “was always with me, never leaving or forsaking me.” That truth is the objective reference point to hope. Yes, His deadly sacrifice made it possible for me to be forgiven, but His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God’s throne put the seal on that promise.
You are braver than believe; because He is with you… you are not alone!
You are stronger than you seem; because His Spirit lives within you and He makes you strong!
You are smarter than you think; because through Him, all the wisdom of eternity flows through you like a spring of living water, bubbling up like a cup overflowing.
Don’t give up… Don’t ever give in! There is Hope! And it is anchored in your Savior, Jesus Christ who stands at the door of your heart and knocks. Let Him flow through your life today, sweeping out all lingering doubt and fears, and filling you with Joy and Peace that are everlasting.
Choose wisely….
“The LORD your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves.
He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing…. So, dear Child if God, work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen.
Do these things, and you will never fall away. Then God will give you a grand entrance into the eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”
(Zephaniah 3:17; 2 Peter 1:10-11)
Praying 4 U
Written by David Brown: David Brown is a husband, father, grandfather, Pastor with a Masters of Religious Studies and a Professor of Philosophy and Comparative Religions. Dave is the Associate Pastor of Pemberton’s First Baptist Church. He is the author of two devotional books, “From a Chair by the Window.” And “#PrayerWinsThe Day”.
