by Kevin Burton
There used to be a Cap’n Crunch commercial where at the end, the announcer declared the ultra-sugary cereal to be “part of a complete breakfast.”
Remember that one?
It showed a bowl of the cereal on a kitchen table with, I believe, eggs, toast, butter and jelly, bacon and orange juice.
Dave Barry hilariously observed that, no, Cap’n Crunch is not part of a complete breakfast, but rather “adjacent to” or “on the same table with” a complete breakfast.
Cap’n Crunch adds nothing to the nutritional value of the meal unless you count the milk that goes with it.
My mind went there today when I saw an e-mail message from Truth For Life speaker Alistair Begg about Psalm 138:8. This was king David placing his trust in God and God alone for his care and protection.
“It is clear that the confidence that the psalmist expresses is a divine confidence,” Begg writes. “He did not say, ‘I have enough grace to perfect that which concerns me—my faith is so steady that it will not falter—my love is so warm that it will never grow cold—my resolution is so firm that nothing can move it.’”
“No, his dependence was on the Lord alone.”
“If we display a confidence that is not grounded on the Rock of ages, our confidence is worse than a dream; it will fall upon us and cover us with its ruins, to our sorrow and confusion. The psalmist was wise; he rested on nothing less than the Lord’s work.”
“It is the Lord who has begun the good work within us; it is He who has carried it on; and if He does not finish it, it never will be completed. If there is one stitch in the celestial garment of our righteousness that we must insert ourselves, then we are lost; but this is our confidence—what the Lord begins, He completes,” Begg wrote.
Let’s add: “Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Heb. 12:2 NKJV).
And, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ; (Phil 1:6 NKJV).
“He has done it all, must do it all, and will do it all. Our confidence must not be in what we have done, nor in what we have resolved to do, but entirely in what the Lord will do.
“Unbelief insinuates: ‘You will never be able to stand. Look at the evil of your heart—you can never conquer sin; remember the sinful pleasures and temptations of the world that beset you—you will be certainly allured by them and led astray.’”
“True, we would certainly perish if left to our own strength. If by ourselves we navigate the most frail vessels of our lives over so rough a sea, we might well give up the voyage in despair,” Begg writes, “but thanks be to God, He will complete that which concerns us and bring us to the desired haven.”
Here’s another verse that lets us know where to look and who to thank for our salvation:
“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph. 2:8-9 NKJV)
God has called us to do good works, and we should do them and not be idle. But in the eternal sense, our works are so much celestial Cap’n Crunch, not helpful, if anything detrimental to the nourishment of our soul.
Don’t let the world, through its pervasive influences (commercials) add anything at all to faith and trust in Jesus alone, as a formula for salvation.
“We can never be too confident when we confide in Him alone, and never too eager to have such a trust,” Begg writes.
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