Both the Lord and His apostles predicted that some would depart from the faith and that His people must be steadfast. The question is not whether we will have to deal with religious error, but whether we will deal with it in a way that honors Christ.
It should be apparent by the way we conduct our lives every day that we appreciate God’s goodness. Paul wrote, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Our deeds are often hasty and our lives end up being haphazard hodgepodges of this and that, rather than the well-constructed results of premeditation. Nowadays we truly need the biblical warning to think about what we are doing.
One lifetime is too short a time for anyone to learn all he needs to know by experiencing everything himself. The person who is not willing or doesn’t take the time to learn from the experiences that others have passed through will not be very wise.
Sunday is our best opportunity to be with the best people in the world — the Lord’s people — to worship, learn, pray, and sing, to give of our means and observe the Lord’s Supper, to edify and be edified, to rejoice in our blessings in Christ.
We need to strive for greater consistency in our lives. If we are not living what we say we believe, two things are likely to happen: (1) we will be ashamed of our lives, and (2) we will be unsuccessful at having a good influence on other people.
If we turn away from the word which now comes to us as a message of salvation, that word will confront us finally as a word of condemnation. To listen to the word of Christ is no trivial matter. In hearing it, we take sides for Him or against Him.
Let’s trust God with our material needs, our obedience to His commands, and our service in His kingdom. God has promised to supply every real need that we will ever have. But we must have the faith to depend on Him rather than worldly sources.
Let’s meditate this week on the immensity of the patience that God has demonstrated toward us, and let’s show our gratitude for His patience in our dealings with one another. Let’s remember that others have to be patient with our impatience!
God is the only source of true security, and we are foolish if we ignore that fact. It may be tempting to put our trust in other people and other things, but we must keep our ultimate trust in the God who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
