Sunday, March 18, 2018

For everyone who trusts in Jesus

I love the opening of The Heidelberg Catechism. It is a blessing to me and I hope it will be to you, too.
Here’s how it begins:
What is your only comfort in life and in death?
That I am not my own, but belong - body and soul, in life and in death -
to my faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ.
He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood,
and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.

He also watches over me in such a way
that not a hair can fall from my head
without the will of my Father in heaven;
in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him,
Christ, by his Holy Spirit,
assures me of eternal life
and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready
from now on to live for him.

The catechism was published in 1563 and was authored by twelve men, but largely by Zacharius Ursinus.