Because you have kept My
command to persevere… —Revelation 3:10
“Perseverance means more than
endurance— more than simply holding on until the end. […] Entrust yourself to
God’s hands. Is there something in your life for which you need perseverance
right now? Maintain your intimate relationship with Jesus Christ through the
perseverance of faith. Proclaim as Job did, “Though He slay me, yet will I
trust Him” (Job 13:15). Faith is not some weak and pitiful emotion, but is strong
and vigorous confidence […] Faith is the supreme effort of your life— throwing
yourself with abandon and total confidence upon God.[…] There are areas in our
lives where that faith has not worked in us as yet— places still untouched by
the life of God. There were none of those places in Jesus Christ’s life, and
there are to be none in ours. Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they
may know You…” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can
face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life
will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful
things all the time.” CHAMBERS
At the risk of causing some
cataclysmic event, I am using the Chambers devotion from yesterday, May 8th,
and not today, May 9th. I
typically write the devotions Monday through Saturday, so whatever Chambers
devotion falls on Sunday is missed. However,
I did not want to miss this one. As a
result of our travels, Martie and I have had the opportunity to observe the
practice of faith outside of the boundaries of the local church that we attend. From my observations I have concluded that generally
there is a diluted devotion to the faith and practice. I don’t think that problem has really changed
all that much, but the veil that once divided how many if not most Christians
live during the week and how they behave on Sunday morning is all but
gone. Not that there is evil intent on
their part, but more likely people don’t feel the need to hide the fact that there
is a lack of total abandon to God and
total confidence on God, in their work-a-day lives. What had driven the difference about Sunday was
that Sunday brought on an acute awareness of the faith aspect of their lives. The
men have stopped wearing suits, the women their “Sunday go to meetin” dresses. Dampening
the sense that, like a light switch, they no longer need to switch their lives to the spiritually “on”
position for the day.
Our job – yours and mine – is
to encourage them to leave the switch on all the time. To let their light shine
all the time. What has happened is that
the culture has overtaken them, just as it has and does all over the
world. Living by faith is a result of a
world view, of life abandoned to God. I
read and hear much about Millennials. As
if that generation has morphed into something never seen before. There is nothing “new” under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 1:9) The nature of man has not changed. The “wrapper”
may change in terms of look and practice, but when you peel all of that away,
nothing has changed. That is why the
Word of God prevails from generation to generation, culture to culture. I have often asked people what 2 plus 2
equals. Of course the answer is .. well
the number you are thinking right now. But
then I say “And the answer is the same no matter where you go on this planet
and no matter what century you were born in. And the Word of God is the same.
It doesn’t change and neither does the heart of man. Don’t look at the world the way the world
looks at the world. If you do, you will
miss the reason that things are the way they are. There is a spiritual reality that can only be
seen and understood through the prism of the Word and the light of the
Spirit. A Christian’s faith is either
getting stronger or weaker, but it never stays the same. The fact that you are reading this tells me
that you are interested in making yours stronger. My purpose in writing this is to encourage
you. First that you will see your life
rightly and be motivated to pursue God with more determination that you had
yesterday. And second, that you will
encourage others to do the same. For their
good and God’s glory. God bless
you. CHARLEY
Charley Elgin
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