One of my favorite hymns is Blessed Assurance.

Not so much because Jesus is mine, but because I am his.

I know from where I started in life, I know the pitfalls that I have overcome.

I know the valleys that I have traveled, and through it all, because I am his, I have been brought through.

This is my story, and I am sticking with it.

In our epistle lesson for Christ the King Sunday, the Apostle Paul writes:

 “¹⁷I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, ¹⁸so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, ¹⁹and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. ²⁰God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,”

I didn’t always operate in wisdom and revelation. I operated out of desires of selfish ambition and personal control. Back in the ’70s, I was a student of the decade of the ’80s, where my personal agenda was paramount. But, God moved me out of harm’s way and, despite my stubbornness, revealed to me a better way. As the song says: who am I to disagree (or for cheese lovers, to dis a brie). So in the midst of my rebellion, I yielded and surrendered to God’s Call on my life.

To paraphrase the Apostle Paul, with the eyes of my heart enriched, I came to know the hope to which I was called.

I, like many of you, know firsthand the meaning from Langton Hughes’ poem Mother to Son where the mother says: Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.” But, through it all, no matter what, because we are the Lord’s, God has given us a Blessed Assurance of God’s grace and love in our lives.

The Apostle Paul further reminds us: ²²And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church.” Beloved, we are the Lord’s, we have a Blessed Assurance, Christ is King, and who are we to disagree. Amen.