The Paradoxical Freedom of Belonging to God
As you may have noticed, we live in a world that prioritizes autonomy, the freedom of self-rule. The mantra of the 21st century is best summed up by my children’s cry to one another when they were young, “You’re not the boss of me!”
How then, can it be, that belonging to God brings the freedom we really yearn for? The first question and answer of the Heidelberg Catechism tells us that comfort comes from belonging to a God who sent his Son to be our faithful Savior, to pay for all of our sins, and to set us free from the power of sin and evil.
In July of 2017, I was grieving many illnesses and losses of loved ones at the same time I was studying the Heidelberg Catechism. Little did I know that even as God gave me the good news about my only comfort in life and in death, I would need to believe it more than ever in a few short weeks.
Here is the exercise I did. Why not try it? Who knows when you might desperately need this comfort?
1. Read the entire question and answer aloud, slowly, taking your time.
2. Listen to the words and let them wash the comfort over you like a refreshing shower on a hot summer’s day.
3. For further comfort: Look up the Bible verses from which they are taken, which are listed below.
I pray you may find the true comfort and hope in Jesus Christ our faithful Savior.
This version is copied from Heidelberg Catechism.com
What is your only comfort
in life and death?
• 1.1 Cor 6:19, 20.
• 2.Rom 14:7-9.
• 3.1 Cor 3:23; Tit 2:14.
• 4.1 Pet 1:18, 19; 1 Jn 1:7; 2:2.
• 5.Jn 8:34-36; Heb 2:14, 15; 1 Jn 3:8.
• 6.Jn 6:39, 40; 10:27-30; 2 Thess 3:3; 1 Pet 1:5.
• 7.Mt 10:29-31; Lk 21:16-18.
• 8.Rom 8:28.
• 9.Rom 8:15, 16; 2 Cor 1:21, 22; 5:5; Eph 1:13, 14.
• 10.Rom 8:14.
That I am not my own, 1
but belong with body and soul,
both in life and in death, 2
to my faithful Saviour Jesus Christ. 3
He has fully paid for all my sins
with his precious blood, 4
and has set me free
from all the power of the devil. 5
He also preserves me in such a way 6
that without the will of my heavenly Father
not a hair can fall from my head; 7
indeed, all things must work together
for my salvation. 8
Therefore, by his Holy Spirit
he also assures me
of eternal life 9
and makes me heartily willing and ready
from now on to live for him. 10
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