As a child, my favorite television program was “The Lone Ranger.” The star of the show would always get into a very dangerous situation with a small probability of escape. I would feel tense, hold my face in a pillow, and be incapable of sitting still as I wondered if the Lone Ranger was going to make it.  What a phenomenal relief when the "masked man" not only survived the threat, but actually took the bad guys to jail. Some of the excitement in watching the show disappeared on the day I realized that the Lone Ranger was the star of the show. He was always going to make it. 

I have heard many people express their relief that 2020 is over because of all the bad things that have happened. Such thinking involves a huge assumption: 2021 couldn’t be any worse. Knowing that I sound like Danny Downer, the reality is we do not know what 2021 will be. Now the good news: You Are Going to Make It.

I think about how emotionally tied I can get to program plots forgetting a very simple principle: Captain Kirk will always out think the alien; they are always going to find Nemo; the Road Runner will never get caught; and Ethan Hunt will always complete the impossible mission. They are all going to make it. 

Please know that I am not equating your very real problems to the lives of fictional characters. You, however, must not attribute the good or bad of 2021 with your ability to succeed or luck. I do not know what is going to happen tomorrow let alone in the whole year. I do know our security lies only in placing our hope in the power of our Risen Savior. In Him, You Are Going to Make It. Easily? Probably not. Consider the reality and faith in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians. Paul says that God made His light shine in our hearts giving us the knowledge of God’s glory. So, why aren’t things always good?

But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard-pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
II Corinthians 4:7-9

Through Jesus, You Are Going to Make It in a jar of clay that has chips and cracks. We are beings of flesh with weaknesses. We are prone to failure and brokenness. Our Lord, however, has overcome the shortcomings of flesh which means, in Him, You Are Going to Make It. His purpose on earth was not to make any year good or bad. Jesus’ purpose was to defeat death in every year by facing the crush, despair, abandonment, and destruction of our real lives and sacrificing His real life. In so doing He provided a way through the good and bad of our lives to an eternity in heaven. On the cross, before He died, Jesus said, “It is finished.”  (John 19:20). What does that mean to you and me in 2021?

It means, You Are Going to Make It.

Mike McFarren
Living Water Church
Retired Pastor