Think on these Things

 

2 Timothy 1:7

Think on these things; What things, things that are true, things that are honorable, that are just, that are pure, and especially things that are lovely, or commendable, or excellent, and worthy of praise, that’s a weak attempt at a paraphrase of Philippians 4: 8.  Those are great things to set our minds on, but there is a huge problem; we forget another Scripture that tells us to not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed by the renewing our mind, and that is found in Romans12: 2.  And we have conformed at so many levels, that the habits of our lives are more in conforming to the patterns of this world than to Philippians 4:8. 

Could the answer be found in what we believe, could it be found in our desire to be liked, could it be that Christians have bought into the diversity message of the world, and just want to live free of conflicts?   We believe Jesus and He said; “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.  If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”  (John 15: 18-19)  I believe that you believe Jesus tells the truth, and I also believe no one wants to be hated, so many of us have become very timid outside of the doors of the church.  We have demonstrated a lack of courage in our Lord, and in the authority of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

If only we believed as King David, he found himself in a real mess, his son Absalom, who is an example of “conforming to the patterns of this world” ran his dad out of Jerusalem.  Absalom won the hearts of the people and with a vast army was chasing his dad to kill him.  It’s impossible to imagine you’re children seeking to kill you, and yet we still read about it in the paper or see it on T.V.  But look at King David’s cry to the Lord; “O Lord, how many are my foes!  Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God.  But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.  I cry aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill.  I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me.  I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around.”  (Psalms 3: 1-6)

Paul is telling both Timothy and us that when we enter into Christ’s time line, we are no longer living in a past of fear, hate, and failure, that no longer is who we are, we are now like our Lord because we are eternal beings, Jesus’ past becomes our past and Jesus future becomes ours.  So Paul instructs us in 2 Timothy 1: 7, “For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”  My fellow Christians, we must become doers of the word, we have sat at the feet of preachers and teachers long enough, now it time to apply those truths in these last days.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice