As a younger believer, I tended to focus on knowing ‘what’ I believe. However, the real inner strength and power comes from ‘whom’ I believe. Paul said in 2 Timothy 1:12:
That is why I am suffering as I am. Yet this is no cause for shame, because I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
I think this is where many Christians get off track. At some point, our faith begins and we become Christ followers, we are drawn to this Jesus- the friend of sinners. In the freshness of this ‘new life’, we start the journey. So many truths enter our consciousness; the simple word of God fills us. We attempt to learn all we can about this awesome God. At first, it’s more than enough. But then, we are driven by our minds to grasp more of this knowledge of God. What began as a tug on our heart by the Holy Spirit evolves into a quest for knowledge. We store up spiritual truths like a bank account, tucking away scriptures for a rainy day. We attend service after service, gaining more and more information about this God we serve.
While all this is wonderful, something subtle happens. The scale of our heart tips towards reliance on our knowledge of God’s words over our hearts knowledge of the One that spoke them! Like the Apostle Paul, speaking while chained to the wall of a prison, we must also say “I know whom I have believed”.
The ‘what’ of what men believe in is subject to the shifting perceptions of events and time. The ‘whom’ of what we believe, when we place our hopes and trust in an unchanging God will allow us to experience, along with Paul, the security of being convinced that God will guard what we have entrusted to Him.
Oswald Chambers said it like this:
“A servant of God must stand so much alone that he never knows he is alone. In the first phases of Christian life disheartenments come, people who used to be lights flicker out, and those who used to stand with us pass away. We have to get so used to it that we never know we are standing alone... We must build our faith, not on the fading light, but on the light that never fails. When "big" men go we are sad, until we see that they are meant to go, the one thing that remains is looking in the face of God for ourselves. Allow nothing to keep you from looking God sternly in the face about yourself and about your doctrine… see that you look God in the face about things first, then the glory will remain all through.”
Let’s agree with Paul, I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.
