New Blog by Rocky I Am Persuaded by Rocky Fleming
“ For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39 KJV
Here’s a test for you to take. Whether it be a person, a situation, a product, a guarantee, or promise, are you persuaded that they will not let you down? Persuaded means being thoroughly convinced of something that what you believe is entirely known and true and is absolute. If you have such people or things in your life and believe this about them, then you should know that if it is man or man-made, then you will be highly disappointed when you discover that we’ve betrayed your confidence. Understand, we live in a flawed world, as flawed human beings. We have flawed promises given by flawed systems, and our expectations of those promises are not reality. Let me give you some examples:
When I grew up, the American automotive industry provided about 99% of the automobiles to America. We expected reliability, after all we had won WW2 by becoming the largest producer of quality war machinery and the brilliant minds who produced them. The fifties were the heyday of growth and securing the great American dream, and there were good cars and trucks produced then, for they were competing against each other. However, in the sixties the great automobile industry became greedy and started to produce cars with early expiration dates, so that they would have to be replaced. It was called planned obsolescence. There were guarantees that took those cars to that date of obsolescence but rarely beyond them. It was about sales and marketing and greed. Along about that time we started seeing German cars that were imported into our country that were lasting longer, and Japanese cars that were offering better fit and finish and perceived value. Guess what happened? This “perceived value” won the right to be purchased for those foreign car makers, for there was a tacit persuasion that these cars would not let us down. They became a symbol of quality and reliability.
I bought four of those German high dollar, high quality cars. I was persuaded that my problems were over. Guess what? They were the worst cars I ever owned, but they sure looked good and persuaded other people that there was a man of great success driving it. Guess what? I was weighed down with debt to tried and pay for those cars. The cars were an illusion of quality. The guarantees were an illusion. The message was in fact that I was promoting an illusion to others. Point being? Don’t be easily persuaded by anything that comes from this world, for you will be disappointed.
There is only one thing and one person who we should be persuaded about, and the Apostle Paul stated it in the verse I’ve included. It is the love of God, which we have been given through Jesus Christ, and that nothing will ever separate us from Him. That’s a guarantee that will be honored. We can depend on it. We can be convinced of it. We can be persuaded by it. Why? This guarantee has been given by the One who bought and paid for it with His death on the cross, and His resurrection from death and the grave. He surrendered His perfect life to be that One thing that we can rely on. We paid none of this price. He paid it all. But do we allow ourselves to be persuaded of these things about Jesus? Do we allow ourselves to fully embrace His perfect life, His perfect Spirit and His perfect assurance that we are His and He is ours, or are we persuaded that nothing like that is available to us? After all, we’ve been disappointed before by the people and things of this flawed world to the point we become cynical. What a shame that we evaluate the things of God with such a limited, and yes, flawed perspective.
Back to the sixties and the great car buyer revolution. There was a “perceived value” by buyers that those German and Japanese cars were better than their American counterpart. As a result, the great three of American cars began losing sales to these foreign strangers coming from defeated countries and selling their cars over here. Like I said, it was only perceived quality. Perception is rarely reality because of the world we live in.
Because of the issue of being flawed people living in a flawed world, no matter where we live or come from, including Germany or Japan, we will see the same results. Flaws, broken promises, disappointment, and greed. But don’t become cynical. Expect it to be so. Hope for the better. Try to be that person of character and responsibility yourself that people can count on, even though you, too, will sometimes fail. Don’t present yourself as only perceived value and not the real deal. Our failures convince us that we can never be perfect, and we always require God’s grace. Our failures often show a side of us that is out of sight to the people around us. Hiding them can shame us and debilitate us when found out. But they can also make us into men and women who can serve our King better when we conquer them, for we learn a message about Him rather than ourselves. If you don’t want to be publicly shamed, then privately repent and release your failure to God for His forgiveness before you are publicly shamed. Then, like Jesus said, go and sin no more.
I have discovered that I can be and am persuaded that what Apostle Paul speaks of is true. I am persuaded that Jesus loves me just like its written. His is a guarantee that I can depend on, for He never breaks a promise. Are you also persuaded of this?