We have come to the final truth in our series on the 10 Big Truths. My prayer is that these truths have served, and will continue to serve, as daily reminders that reorient our thinking, believing, and living. As we bring the series to a close, I have reproduced all ten truths below.
10 Big Truths That We Should All Hold On To
God exists.
God loves you.
Jesus died for you, and if you know Him, God has promised to do good to and for you.
God sees you as perfect, holy, and righteous.
Yet, this righteousness is not your own, but Christ’s. You deserve hell, but in God’s grace, you get heaven.
You are mortal, and you are accountable to God.
You will live forever in glory.
However, for now you are a pilgrim and sojourner on the earth.
The earth and everything in it is temporary and tainted, so nothing “down here” is worthy of your ultimate trust and hope.
You have no right to be discontent, sour, or unhappy.
This article is part a series on 10 Big Truths to Remember Daily. Find the others here:
10 Big Truths #2: God Loves You
10 Big Truths #3: Jesus Died for You
10 Big Truths #4 & 5: God Sees You as Righteous…But It’s Not Your Own
10 Big Truths #6 & 7: Mortality, Accountability, and the Glory of Eternity
Getting to the End
The tenth truth is really the practical conclusion of all the truths that precede it. When we begin to grasp the greatness of God, the magnitude of His love for us, and the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf, we begin to recognize that we possess everything we truly need. In Christ, our greatest problem has been solved. Our sins have been forgiven, we have been reconciled to God, and we have received the incomparable blessing of knowing Him. We also have the certain hope that we will spend eternity with Him in glory.
For a little while, we must continue to live on this earth, but we do so knowing that our true home is in heaven. The temporariness of this life helps us to remember to live faithfully since we are accountable to God. That temporariness also helps us to hold loosely to everything “down here” know that none of it is worthy of our ultimate trust or hope. Everything around us changes, but the Lord does not. His character remains constant, His promises remain true, and the work He has accomplished for us in Christ remains eternally secure.
Therefore, we have nothing ultimately to fear, nothing ultimately to complain about, and no circumstance that should turn our attention away from the One in whom we are commanded to rejoice always (Phil. 4:4). This is the great reality expressed in our final truth: because of all that God is and all that He has done for us in Christ, we have no right to remain discontent, sour, or unhappy (1 Pet. 1:3–9).
When Life is Hard
To be sure, we often believe that we have every right to be unhappy or discontent. After all, painful things happen to us. We lose a job. Someone we love dies. Our car is totaled. Our children do not live as they should. Our plans fall apart, our bodies weaken, and one difficult day seems to follow another.
These are real hardships, and we should not minimize the suffering and sorrow that accompany life in a fallen world. Christianity does not require us to pretend that pain is painless or that loss is insignificant. The Bible gives us language for grief, lament, disappointment, and sorrow.
However, when we allow these difficulties eclipse the greatness of what we have received in Christ, we inevitably become discontent, bitter, and joyless. We forget that, even amid suffering, we have an unchanging Lord, an unfailing hope, and a salvation that no earthly circumstance can take from us.
A Hope that Cannot Be Taken Away
God has met our greatest need through the blood of Jesus Christ, which was poured out for the forgiveness of our sins. Whatever hardships we experience in this life, none compares with the horror of being eternally separated from God in hell, where “their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:48).
Thanks be to God that Christ has rescued us from that judgment. He has brought us from death to life and has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places (Eph. 1:3). These realities should lead us to rejoice even amid life’s difficulties. Our trials are temporary, but the glory of the Lord endures forever.
We can therefore possess hope, comfort, and joy because our lives are bound up with Christ. We are children of God and fellow heirs with Christ, destined to share in His glory and to live with Him forever in the new heavens and new earth. There we will enjoy life as it was always meant to be, free from sin, sorrow, suffering, and death.
Matt Reagan concludes his brief exposition of these ten truths with these helpful words: “How quick I am to become ‘blah’ when there is a treasure trove of happy reality at my disposal! I must beat this into my discontent little brain. I can be plenty unhappy, but I have no right to be. These reminders flee from my mind like stray socks in an armful of laundry. Every time I pick one up, another falls. By the time I read #10, #1 is beckoning again. What a grace that #4 is true!”
Rinse and Repeat that You Might be Reformed
That is why we must continue rehearsing these truths. We are forgetful people, and the cares, disappointments, and distractions of life constantly compete for our attention. We must remind ourselves again and again of who God is, what He has done for us in Christ, and what He has promised for our future.
God exists. God loves you. Christ died for you. Your righteousness is found in Him. Your sins are forgiven. Your life is brief, but your future in glory is eternal. This world is not your home, and nothing in it deserves your ultimate hope.
Therefore, rejoice in the Lord always. You have no right to be discontent, sour, or unhappy, because in Christ you have received more grace, more hope, and more glory than you could ever deserve.
