Our One Comfort: Joy Dudley

The Heidelberg Catechism opens with one question whose answer has become a much beloved and cherished rehearsal that plays over and over again in my head and my heart:

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I am not my own, but belong with body and soul, both in life and in death, to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ. He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood and has set me free from all the power of the devil. He also preserves me in such a way that without the will of my heavenly Father not a hair can fall from my head; indeed all things must work together for my salvation. Therefore, by his Holy Spirit he also assures me of eternal life and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live for him.

Recently through listening to this fantastic sermon by John Fonville (I will provide the link at the end of the post), I have come to the understanding that this comfort is what is needed as we travail through the storms and valleys of this life. This comfort is what is needed to live unto righteousness and die onto sin. This comfort counteracts and destroys our lack of confidence in the benevolence of God's favor towards us in Christ. This comfort brings the assurance that God will not forsake us in our trials, that He does not turn away from us when we sin, and that He is kind and merciful to us.

This one comfort lays waste to our distrust in God's provision, lays waste to our trust in our own righteousness, lifts our eyes to Christ who is seated at the right hand of God, and cocoons us in the care of the triune God. This comfort shows us that God's kindness leads us to repentance. This comfort means the difference between exhaustion and rest, despair and rejoicing. This comfort hushes the voices of condemnation and guarantees us the declaration "Well done thou good and faithful servant", for the sake of Christ. Gospel comfort preserves, protects, and presents us before God with confidence.

Please listen as Pastor John Fonville eloquently lays out a paradigm that enables us to live and die in this comfort. I pray that if you are discouraged by your lack of obedience, if you are weary from frustration, and if you are unsure of God's disposition towards you in Christ, the words of this sermon would be streams of living water for your soul.

https://www.paramountchurch.com/sermons/sermon/2019-07-28/guilt-grace-gratitude:-a-paradigm-for-comfort

"May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ" - 2 Thessalonians 3:5

Joy Dudley is co-host of Church Chats with Gospel Gal podcast, a contributor to Gospel Gal blog, and member of a URCNA church in Southern California. She loves pointing people to the kindness, love, and sufficiency of Christ in their day to day lives