“To This I Hold”
Every time I have to get under my car to change the oil or inspect something that needs fixing, there’s always a part of me that worries the car will come crashing down on me. Even though it never has, I still can’t fully trust that my car will stay up like it’s supposed to.
Another way to put it is that I lack faith in whatever is holding up my car, doubting that it will continue to do so.
Hebrews 11:1 defines faith as: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
I have no conviction that my car will stay propped up and not come crashing down on me.
This makes me think about how we approach God. There is a difference between knowing that the jack I’m using was designed to hold up my car and having the conviction to get underneath it, trusting it will hold.
Similarly, there is a difference between knowing a spiritual truth about God and having the faith—the assurance and conviction—to act on it.
On Sunday, we will be singing a song by CityAlight titled “Yet Not I, But Through Christ In Me.”
I consider this song a modern hymn because it doesn’t have a chorus like most contemporary worship songs. Instead, each verse contains the phrase “To This I Hold,” followed by a declaration about God’s relationship with us.
This phrase “To This I Hold” is a declaration of belief—in other words, a conviction.
The song presents three key declarations. How might our lives look different if we acted on these declarations instead of simply understanding them as biblical truths?
Verse 1 and Verse 4:
“To this I hold, my hope is only Jesus.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)
What would our lives look like if we truly believed that Jesus is our only hope?
Verse 2:
“To this I hold, my Shepherd will defend me.” (Psalm 18:2)
How might we approach situations if we genuinely believed that God has our backs?
Verse 3:
“To this I hold, my sin has been defeated.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
How might this change our view of our past and our potential for the future?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer to these questions. But the reality is that we would live differently if we embraced these declarations with conviction.
On Sunday, we will look at how Hannah (1 Samuel 1–3) demonstrated her trust in God—by being faithful in worship, praying in the midst of storms, and trusting in God’s timing.
Spend some time this week meditating on the declarations of faith listed above, and reflect on how you, like Hannah, can turn that knowledge into a conviction that shapes how you respond to the various situations and circumstances of life.