ALWAYS!

Last week was a special one for the “Dawgs”—the motley bunch of (mostly) divinity postgrad students who get together for prayer weekly (another posting on the aBeLOG a while ago portrayed those canines). Our high chief Dawg—top Dawg?—is now done with his studies. Tom is now Dr. Dawg! He blazed through his viva voce, with his examiners requiring hardly any corrections to his thesis, outside of the obligatory typos and such.

The rest of us are still humble Dawgs, barking and growling our way to a hopefully successful conclusion to this dog-fight. Every Dawg, they say, has its day.

The interesting thing about these Dawgs—current and erstwhile: the strong bond that developed during student days here at the University of Aberdeen, continues to glue the whole kennel together; the Dawgs of the Diaspora still keep in touch, the emails roaming across the globe from one Dawg to another; the congratulatory missives to the latest Dawg to acquire a Ph.D., Canis helveticus (Tom is Swiss), came from several continents.

You see, Once a Dawg, always a Dawg! Undogging is an impossibility. Canis medicus, I’ll always be!

There’s one other thing that I’ll always be. SAVED! An always-saved Dawg!

God is so good to have once for all taken care of my sins—past, present, and future.

Therefore there is now
no condemnation
for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1

In the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, all my sins, as the song goes, have been washed away in the blood of lamb. And once washed, always washed. Eternally secure, praise God! Secure in the hands of a mighty Savior, who said …

"This is the will of Him
who sent Me,
that of all that He has given Me
I lose nothing,
but raise it up on the last day."
John 6:39

Secured not only from condemnation, but secured unto eternal life.

"My sheep hear My voice,
and I know them,
and they follow Me;
and I give eternal life to them,
and they will never perish."
John 10:27

Indeed, the Bible affirms, eternal life is actually a present possession for the one who has placed one’s trust in Jesus Christ as God and Saviour.

He who believes in the Son
has eternal life.
John 3:36

What a joyous truth is eternal security, sustaining, succoring, and stabilizing one amidst the vagaries of life and the vicissitudes of living. What a blessed hope is that of eternity secure! A glorious day about to dawn in the future. In Christ that life, forever sure.

Living, He loved me; dying, He saved me;
Buried, He carried my sins far away;
Rising, He justified freely forever;
One day He’s coming—O glorious day!
J. Wilbur Chapman, 1908

And why do I hold all this to be true? Because it is guaranteed in the Scriptures …

… the hope of eternal life,
which God, who cannot lie,
promised long ages ago.
Titus 1:2

What can we say to these things then? Nothing much needs to be said, except to echo, on bended knee, the words of Peter …

Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who according
to His great mercy
has caused us
to be born again
to a living hope
through the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead,
to obtain an inheritance
which is imperishable
and undefiled
and will not fade away,
reserved in heaven for you,
who are protected
by the power of God ….
1 Peter 1:3–5

Always, always a saved Dawg!