Friday, October
13, 2023
A WORLD WITHOUT GOD!
Rom 1:28
28 And so, since they did not see fit to acknowledge God or approve of
Him or consider Him worth the knowing, God gave them over to a base and condemned
mind to do things not proper or decent but loathsome,
AMPLIFIED BIBLE
Phil 3:18-4:1
18(For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even
weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 Whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory
is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:
21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his
glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things
unto himself.
Philippians 4
4:1 Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and
crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
It seems to me that verse 1 of Philippians
chapter 4 rightfully belongs at the end of chapter three. Paul described a world
that gloried in their shame and whose mind was firmly set on wicked things. He also
reminded the Philippians that their destiny was heaven and that they lived as expatriates
in a foreign land. Then he urged them to “stand fast” in the Lord. The two English
words “stand fast” is translated from a single Greek word, steko,
which is the perfect tense of “to be stationary.” It is clear that we
are not to be moved from our faithfulness to Christ even during evil times.
I think Christians should stop blaming God for being absent when they themselves
are not present.
Our government is corrupt, our world is morally bankrupt, and our church members are often compliant with the evil around them.
We forget that Christianity was born during a time of great evil and,
in fact, thrived in a world that was antagonistic toward God. Churches, which at
the first were simple assemblies of the faithful, were disrupted regularly. They
met in secret using codes to announce meetings. They sang hymns in whispers and
read from patches of torn scripture. They helped each other; relied on each other
and trusted in God.
George Orwell, writing regarding
Europe’s rejection of God, said: "For two hundred years we had sawed and
sawed and sawed at the branch we were sitting on. And in the end, much
more suddenly than anyone had foreseen, our efforts were rewarded, and down
we came. But unfortunately, there had been a little mistake: The thing at
the bottom was not a bed of roses after all; it was a cesspool full of barbed wire.”
1 Cor 15:58
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not
in vain in the Lord.
Dear Lord, let my faithfulness and steadfastness be equal to the world’s
wickedness. Let me not be overrun. AMEN
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