The security of a 2-handed grip

When I was a little fellow of five or six years, my family went walking in the forests of Hogsback in the Eastern Cape.

We had to scramble up a steep muddy path next to the Madonna and Child waterfall, to get to the top of the escarpment. My dad suggested that he should hold onto my hand in case I should slide down the slope. I expected that he would hold my very small hand in his big one, but he showed me a better way. He held my wrist with his hand and had me hold onto his wrist, in what is sometimes called a sailor’s grip.

This way, if one of us should stumble and let go, the other would still be holding fast. This gave me a fine sense of security and we arrived safely, though short of breath, at the top.

Jesus warned his disciples that he would be leaving them the night before the awful but glorious events of his crucifixion, death, and later resurrection at the critical Passover which established Easter commemorations for Christians. He promised that he would return, that death could not hold him.

He gave them an illustration of a vine and said: “I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burnt.” John 15:5,6

This Easter we should make certain that our two-handed grip with our Saviour and Lord is firm.

As we remain in him, his promise is our security and he will remain in us. He will not let go, even if we stumble from time to time and we will have the joy of effective service producing spiritual fruit.