LifeLink Devotional

Thursday, January 21, 2021

When our children were just learning to walk, Denise and I would position them between us so we could each hold a hand. No matter which way the child stumbled, one of us could instantly restore their balance. Soon, as their balance improved and their confidence grew, we took walks with them holding only one hand. It wasn’t long before they took the liberty to decide when they needed a hand. Rarely did they ever ask for both. One seemed to be sufficient.

How many hands does it take to hold you?

The reason I ask that question is because of the words of Jesus in John 10: 28-30.

“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.”

Jesus says that we are in His hand and He holds us securely against all attempts to remove us. Then He says that the Father also holds us in His hand. So, we may assume that there are two hands holding us, right?

Read the next statement of Jesus. “I and My Father are One.”

Jesus draws out of His analogy of a shepherd and his sheep one of the most significant doctrines of Scripture – the absolute unity of the Father and the Son. “I and My Father are One” is as clear a statement of His deity as you will find anywhere in Scripture.

The word One does not suggest that the Father and the Son are identical persons. Rather, it means that they are one in essence: The Father is God and the Son is God, but the Father is not the Son and the Son is not the Father. Jesus is speaking about unity, not identity.

The answer to the question of how many hands are holding you is TWO – the hand of Jesus and the Hand of the Father. But the answer alone is not satisfying unless we understand the reason for the answer. I am filled with awe and thanksgiving as I prepare to write the next paragraph.

The Father and the Son are in absolute agreement about your security. BOTH hold you equally and eternally. BOTH are in perfect unity about how to provide us the greatest confidence, hope, and protection. NEVER have they ever had a difference of opinion about what is best for us. NEVER have the Father and the Son disagreed on the direction we should take.  NEVER has one of them ever held back on their support of us. NEVER has the Father questioned our identity in Christ, and NEVER has the Son ever withdrawn His life from us.

When Jesus said, “I and My Father are One,” He declared to us a level of spiritual security beyond anything ever expressed before. The Father gives us to the Son. The Son holds us securely in His hand. The Son is in perfect unity with the Father. The Father honors the finished work of the Son to secure us. The Father joins the Son in securing us in His hand.

We can walk through life confidently knowing that it is not up to us to choose when we need a hand. The hand of God and the Hand of Jesus will NEVER let us go.

Pastor John