Heidelberg #1

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 Saviour 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. 

---

I love this question. First, it is universally applicable. It is one everyone regardless of their faith status must answer. It’s also immensely practical and not nearly as abstract as question 1 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism. It takes as its starting point the recognition that life, as well as death, are deeply discomforting without implying that it’s not a blessing. One doesn’t have to live very long to encounter the reality that life is hard and often unfair. That doesn’t even begin to speak of death–collectively our greatest enemy and likewise our greatest fear.

So what is your only comfort in the midst of such pain and fear? Many would try to find comfort in their own talents or abilities supposing that they are resolute. But ask anyone over the age of forty if they still posses the vitality they had when they were twenty and you’ll find that it all fades. Our own abilities are about as solid as jello in a blender. Instead, a sure comfort is not in anything we possess but in our possession. “That I am not my own…” Notice that our comfort isn’t in some future state of affairs, like heaven, but in the right now possession of a perfect savior, who paid a huge price to attain you.

Because we are not our own as the answer states, we can face life and death right now knowing that whatever it is we’re facing it is the will of God, for our good and for his Glory. It is interesting that the vicissitudes of life and death are likened here to a hair falling from your head. Because in light of belonging to God, the greatest trouble we may face is no more consequential than losing one of the approximately 100,000 hairs on your head.

We also ought to be comforted by the fact that in so far as our troubles are of our own making, the Holy Spirit assures us of our possession by Christ and makes us willing and able to live for him, meaning that yea you may have screwed up, but that doesn’t mean that Christ no longer possesses you, and the Spirit’s work is to make your resolved to live differently.

Reflect on that today. If indeed you love and trust Jesus, you belong to him and he paid a huge price to get you, he is not going to let you out of his sight. Anything you may be facing is no more consequential to your soul than losing a single hair off of your head, and indeed that trouble will be used to bring about your salvation in a fuller sense than without it. Also, take comfort that the Spirit is at work in your life making you willing and able to live for Christ. It is all part of God’s commitment and dedication to you.