No Letdowns From Jesus

No Letdowns From Jesus                                October 27, 2024

“And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20b, ESV).

          Hank Williams Sr. sang an old love song, “If you love me half as much as I love you.”  One of the lyrics says, “You’re nice to me when there’s no one else around; You only build me up to let me down.”

          We live in an imperfect world.  Most of us have numerous friends, many of whom will let us down.  Don’t get me wrong, there are friends who will “stick closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24), who will stand by us and uplift us as much as humanely possible.  But there are others who will let us down.

          We can expect both results from those whom we consider to be our friends.  On the other hand, there is one friend who took on human form but is, in fact, deity.  This is the one true friend who will never, ever, let us down.  This friend, Jesus Christ, is the one friend so dedicated to humankind that He died for us.  “For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:7-8).

          We are to love one another, even our enemies.  But our love is sometimes shallow and often fails to meet the test of true love.  Howbeit, we still strive to grow and mature in our love.  That love will, in turn, be manifested in our actions, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but in deed and in truth” (I John 3:18).

          As we strive to grow and mature in our love actions, may we never forget that Jesus is our example.  The example that He left is that He will never leave us nor will He ever let us down.  There are no letdowns from Jesus.

                                                          By Roy Allen Crutcher (Mt. Carmel, IL)

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“Rejoice, young man, during your childhood, and let your heart be pleasant during the days of young manhood.  And follow the impulses of your heart and the desires of your eyes.  Yet know that God will bring you to judgment for all these things.  So, remove vexation (worldly sorrow & anxiety that comes from sinful behavior) from your heart and put away pain (evil) from your body, because childhood and the prime of life are fleeting (then you’ll be old)” (Ecclesiastes 11:9-10).