Looking deeper than mere platitudes

After you have been a Christian for awhile, you may have heard certain phrases repeated over and over again. God loves you. If God is for us, who can be against us? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid. God is with you. He will not leave nor forsake you. The trouble is that more often than not, these pithy phrases are often sung in worship service to “set the mood”, used for the convenience of the moment or uttered without a thought about God Himself, resulting in many of them being rendered meaningless. Surely when a Christian says, “God is love,” he or she means something utterly different from what the world means when they say the same thing, often within the context of something that completely contradicts God’s Word and God Himself. David’s charge to his son Solomon gives us an idea of how to look beyond mere Christian platitudes, and into the very heart of God. David said to Solomon, “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished.” Why should Solomon be strong and courageous and do it? Why should Solomon not be afraid nor dismayed? Why should Solomon be assured that God is with him? Why should Solomon know that God will not leave nor forsake him? Because the work for the service of the house of the Lord must be finished. And God will make sure His work is finished as He works in and through you. As Christians, you can be strong and courageous, you can be assured God is with you because he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). So every time you use familiar phrases, use it in this light – that you will continue to let God have His way in you, and to transform by the renewal of your mind, to love and serve Him and His people.