To Stand
Revelation 1:1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
I try to begin a new post on Sunday afternoons or Monday as a rule. This week I have been remiss. It’s easy to procrastinate when your world has been effectively shaken to its core.
Last week August 8, 2022, as I was dawdling about on some miscellaneous project, Old Fuzzy stuck his head in my office and asked me if I had heard. Apparently, the FBI had raided President Donald Trump’s home.
That set me off on a trip of valley low, mountain high, moments throughout the week. Now, this isn’t a political post, so I do not intend to go there, but what has struck me is the truth of Jesus’ words.
Luke 12:49-52 ff.
“49 I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?
50 But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished! 51 Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division: 52 For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three…”
I have said/written many times in the past when I see non-Christians complain that they will be glad when all those Christians are gone, just what is it about “thou shalt not steal, or kill, or bear false witness, or any other of the moral teachings of scriptures that they don’t like?
Those uninformed people don’t realize if you take the moral restraint away from Christians the uninformed should be afraid. The restraint that keeps us civil tames a beast they would not want loose.
Just today I read a quote and I’m not sure exactly who made the statement. It could have been the current Pope, someone whom I wouldn’t generally follow nor have a quote from. The quote was “There is no path to holiness without spiritual combat.”
Old Fuzzy had a Sunday lesson lately on II Timothy 3:12. “Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. 13 But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
I read another post on Facebook by a friend. He attributes his story to someone by the name of David Foster Wallace. To paraphrase what he’s said, It has two young fish floating down the river that are met by an old fish going upstream who asks them ‘how’s the water.’ After a bit, one young fish asks the other what’s water?
The author continues that we in this society are living in “the water.” And the water would be the “Judeo-Christian worldview. Its ethics, respect for the individual, and social structure have created the highest standard of living and freedoms that everyone in the West takes for granted.”
Without this water that we live in, we would live in a world of anarchy. A world that is predicated upon “the feelings of the moment” by the strongest persons of the moment. Feelings that could change at the whim of the moment from whoever is in charge.
They know not of what they wish for.
The scriptures speak of spiritual warfare. Jesus in the aforementioned scriptures and in other places speaks of this war. The Apostle Paul references this war in his revelations as do the Apostle Peter and the other writers of the New Testament as well. It’s a common theme. Keep running the race, fighting the fight, and stay strong. The book of Revelations is a book describing the spiritual war.
Ephesians 6:12 Tells us our spiritual battle is against the rulers of darkness… “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”
We fight against things we cannot totally understand, but stand we must.
“Ephesians 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14 Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness;”
