WHEN WE PUT OUR CONFIDENCE IN JESUS, WE GET JESUS.

SO DO NOT THROW AWAY YOUR CONFIDENCE; IT WILL BE RICHLY REWARDED.

HEBREWS 10:35

All month long we’ve been focused on placing our confidence in Jesus. 

In week one, we looked at why Jesus is worthy of our confidence. In week two, we talked about how we can be confident in Jesus when we suffer. And last week, we learned that Jesus’s abiding love for sinners like us makes us confident that he won’t abandon us. But you may have noticed that we’ve missed something . . . like the second half of the verse! It says our confidence will be “richly rewarded.” Hmmm . . . Have you been wondering all month just exactly what that reward is? Well, here it is. 

Our reward is Jesus.  

When we place our confidence in Jesus, we get Jesus. We get Jesus right now, and we get Jesus forever. Actually, we get the fullness of the Deity—Father, Son, and Spirit. But for our purposes here, I want to focus in on how placing our confidence in Jesus results in Jesus. Jesus is the means AND the end. In other words, he is our confidence AND our reward. Did I just blow your mind, even a little bit? It feels like a lot to think about. 

So, I’ll give you an example from my own life.  

This past week, I’ve been having nightmares about my kids and waking up with fear and anxiety. This isn’t normal for me. Ordinarily, sleep is my best hobby—I’m like a professional. So, I really have had to wonder what’s going on with me. As a person who tends to stuff my emotions, these nightmares have helped me see that I have a lot of latent anxiety about my kids right now. You see, our school district just redrew boundary lines, which means that some of our kids will automatically go to different schools, but other kids have a choice to stay where they are for a year. My husband and I are both at a loss for what to do. My recent nightmares and this verse have made me realize what’s really going on inside of me: I haven’t been confident that Jesus has this whole situation under control. Instead of trusting his knowledge of all things, I’ve been worrying about every possible scenario. Instead of resting in his good plans for my kids, I’ve been fretting over them making friends. The short of it is this: I haven’t been trusting that Jesus can weave together their story for good. Until now.      

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Just yesterday, I spent some major time praying and releasing this to God.  

I told Jesus that I have no earthly idea what’s best, but I’m going to be confident that he knew this would happen, he knows what will happen next, and he has our kids firmly in his competent hands. This is the means to the reward that I was talking about. This is me placing my confidence in Jesus. And what’s the reward? Jesus. He is my reward—replacing my anxiety with his peace, filling my fretful heart with his love, and reminding me that security in this world is not my end. He is my end, my very good reward.  

So, let’s confirm my experience with God’s truth. 

The author of Hebrews tells us that when we place our confidence in Jesus, he is our great mediator, welcoming us into the very presence of God (Hebrews 10:19-22). He also tells us that Jesus is trustworthy. When we put our confidence in Jesus we can be assured that “he who promised is faithful” (Hebrews 10:23). And he says that our continued confidence in Jesus is earning for us a “better possession and an abiding one” (Hebrews 10:34, ESV). That better and abiding possession is eternity spent WITH Jesus. So, what do we get when we trust Jesus? We get intimacy with God and the assurance that he will fulfill his every good promise, including eternity spent in joyous communion with the Father, Son, and Spirit. Don’t you see? When we place our confidence in Jesus, we GET Jesus. Jesus right now. Jesus, faithful to his promises. Jesus in our hearts and minds. Jesus for all eternity. Jesus, our lasting and great reward. He is the means AND the end, our confidence AND our reward. I can think of no better reward than him.

HOW DOES PUTTING YOUR CONFIDENCE IN JESUS RESULT IN MORE OF JESUS RIGHT NOW?

HOW DOES KNOWING THAT JESUS IS YOUR ETERNAL REWARD MAKE YOU FEEL?

Thanks for reading,