A Pastor’s Perspective

“Free Delivery” by Mike Hill, pastor of Calvary Chapel Aberdeen (mjhill@ida.net)

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The food I ate during my College years didn’t necessarily reflect a healthy diet.  My roommates and I scavenged shopping centers for what was cheap, quick, and easy.  You know, the basic stuff like ramen.  Frozen pot pies.  A box of donuts.  I even remember eating soup right out the can.  Who wants to do dishes, anyway?  Sometimes we would splurge and pool our money together to buy Domino’s pizza.  We didn’t even have to leave our apartment, the food came to us!  And, boy, could they deliver pizza.  We were never able to take advantage of their free pizza policy because they always delivered our truck load of pizzas on time.  Based on exposure to their reliability, I developed a secure trust in their ability to deliver. 

If we can learn to trust a fallible organization of weak and sinful humans to deliver for us, why do we find it difficult to trust in Almighty God to deliver us?  Paul the apostle had an unshakable trust in the living God to deliver him.  Death knocked on his door, but God delivered him from death.  As a result, Paul exulted in God’s deliverance from three perspectives—past, present, and future.  Paul declared that God “delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us” (2Corinthians 1:10).  Do you have a similar unwavering trust in God to deliver you?

We all experience crises and trials in life.  God invites us to “Call upon Me in the day of trouble;

I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psalm 50:15).  He is able to deliver us from trouble.  Psalm 91 describes glorious promises of divine protection from harm and disease for the person who takes refuge under the shadow of the Almighty.  Still, God doesn’t necessarily always deliver His people from trials but provides deliverance through crises.  For example, Paul was not delivered from his thorn in the flesh but through it in that the Lord Jesus supplied the grace to endure his affliction (2Corinthians 12:7-10).  How do you need deliverance?

Jesus offers the greatest deliverance of all—from sin.  The person who places faith and trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior is delivered from the penalty of sin (past), power of sin (present), and, one day, the presence of sin (future) in heaven.   He paid it all.  His offer of deliverance, forgiveness, and salvation is offered to everyone everywhere free of charge (Romans 5:18; 10:13).  Now, that’s what I call free delivery.