Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:26–28).

Late in the evening on April 10, 1993, I asked my girlfriend if she would marry me. For the next two and a half years, we lived out that relationship in many ways. Though I owned a car, it was our car—she had a key and didn’t need to “borrow” my car. We made our plans together: what are we doing Friday night, for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the summer. We each had jobs and bank accounts, but we talked about how we should spend our money. Our relationship was built on the promise we had made to each other.

Shortly after 11:00 AM on September 2, 1995, we were married. Our relationship was the same in many ways but also completely new. The promised relationship we had been living was now actual. What we had tasted before, we now experienced fully.

This is the reality Jesus proclaims in himself. He fulfilled all God’s promises as he gave his body on the cross. What his people had tasted before, the promise of relationship with God as his beloved children, was now an actuality.

We are no longer waiting for something to happen. We don’t have to wonder and worry that something might go wrong and derail the relationship. In Christ, all that God had promised is now ours. We are secure in him. No matter what is happening in life, no matter what goes on in the world, we are his. As we sing, “more happy but not more secure, the glorified spirits in heaven.”

Prayer:
Father, you have called us into relationship with you in Christ. On the cross, you established it, guaranteed it, and now, in him, you keep it. May we live in the sure and certain reality of that relationship, seeing it break forth into our lives every moment of every day.