Keep your eyes open for spiritual danger; stand true to the Lord; act like men; be strong; and whatever you do, do it in kindness and love. (1 Corinthians 16:13-14 LB)
There are some verses that seem to encapsulate the Christian life in such a way that you could read nothing but that verse and know what God wants. The above verse is one of them.
Watch out; be real; grow up; be strong; live in love.
That is really all you need to do. It is like the verse that so any preachers have preached, Micah 6:9: He has shown you, O man, what is good and what the Lord requires of you. To do justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. Be just, be merciful, be humble.
A lot of the Christian life is to keep your eyes open. Jesus said to be wise as serpents but harmless as doves. In other words, know stuff will happen but do not cause it to happen. The Christian has to recognize that bad things will happen. We cannot walk blindly into things thinking that everything will work out fine.
One of my favorite movies lately has been the latest Rambo movie. A group of missionaries want him – against his wishes – to take them into a bad area, an area where people have been killed for doing what they want to do. They feel that just because they think God wants them to go, everything will be good and the rebels will leave them alone.
As it turns out, his worst fears are realized and he has to mount a rescue operation in best Rambo fashion. A good movie, if for no other reason that to say that simply because you think it is a good idea does not mean it is.
The missionaries in the movie should have recognized that it was a dangerous area and their sponsoring organization should also have. But they all figured that if the desire to go was there, God would provide the way. The sad thing is: sometimes he does and sometimes he doesn’t. Keep your eyes open. Don’t be stupid.
A Christian also as to stand true to what God says. He cannot just do what he wants. There are certain ethical standards that one who proclaims the will of God has to keep. Whatever we do, we must do to his glory, in his will, not our own. He is our guiding force, no other.
Grow up, Paul says. Hebrews 6 talks about those who should be more mature but are not, and still need teachers. He says act like men. Grow up. Be mature.
In my first pastorate, there was a ladies class. There were several ladies, but no teacher. And they could not teach themselves. So Ella, a 25 year old, new preacher’s wife, had to teach the class. In many ways, she was more mature than the ladies who were in their 60’s and 70’s.
The apostle Paul says, be mature, grow up, act like people who have been in the kingdom for a while. There is nothing sadder than a long term baby.
Be strong. There is an inner strength that a Christian must display to be a real Christian. It is the strength that the martyrs displayed. It is the strength that Shadrack, Meshack and Abdnego in the book of Daniel showed when they said that even if their God did not deliver them from the oppressive king, they would still not do what he wanted.
It is the strength shown over and over in the Bible in general, and Hebrews 11 in specific. The people of God would not let go of what they knew they needed to do, no matter what the enticement or danger. Real Christians are strong.
Of course, the whole binding agent is love. In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul said that he could do all kinds of great and marvelous things, but that if he didn’t have love, they were worthless. Nothing you do as a Christian is worth anything if you do not do it in love. Even the whole sacrifice of Jesus on the cross would have been worthless if it had not been offered in love.
Do these two verses and you will do what God wants.
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