1 Thessalonians 5:8-11 KJV
But let us,
who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and
for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
For God hath
not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,
Who died for
us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Wherefore
comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.
The
Christian world is fairly reeling over the Supreme Court's recent ruling over
same sex marriage. Many are prophesying the next wave of persecution. Some are
mourning the death of our nation. A few are pointing to the imminent coming of
Jesus Christ. I am reminded that our Anabaptist forefathers preached that
Christians should be wary of every government and focus instead on obedience to
Jesus Christ.
Paul
addressed the passage for our consideration to a group of believers who also
saw the darkness of the days in which they lived and gave them these words of
counsel:
Be sober
Don't
get crazy, fearful or panic. Level headed people handle difficult situations
much better than those who lose their minds over difficult situations.
Don’t get angry
God
has not appointed us to wrath. There will come a time when God Himself will
pour out His wrath. Ours is to reach out to attempt to rescue them, not to “help
God” judge them.
Practice faith, love and hope
In
other words, fight our fight with spiritual weapons. The weapons of our warfare
are still not carnal and they are still mighty.
Comfort one another
There
will be casualties and wounded in any warfare, even spiritual ones. Comfort
each other when needed.
Edify one another
Build
up believers.
· Encourage them
· Equip them
· Strengthen pray
for, preach to and teach them
It
is difficult to say just where all of this will lead.
· Perhaps to the
coming of Christ
· Perhaps to a wave
of persecution
· Perhaps to a return
true Christian experience
What
we can know is that nothing has happened to change God's plan.
· Stay true
· Stay faithful and
· Stay in the battle
for the Bible
No comments:
Post a Comment