Sunday 12 August 2012

Staying True


"Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life." 1 John 2:24-25

 The teaching, light and revelation God gave us by His Word when we first came to know Him, showing us His love, truth and holiness, is still the message and information which keeps us and saves us today. The same practices of prayer, study and obedience to His Word and sharing the good news of salvation with others are as important and essential today as when we first were shown them. 

We may think that modernizing, up-sizing, 'programmizing', organizing and socializing are the all-essential elements to Christian life and growth, but God is ultimately looking for enduring faithfulness to what He showed us in the beginning and the persistence of the 'first love' and passion with which we embraced those principles when we were first exposed to them. Staying with those basic principles and letting them remain is us, helps us keep our eyes on Jesus - the Author and Finisher of our faith - and is therefore the true goal of Christian living.

Holding those things as precious, and keeping them present and alive in our day to day living, abiding in our hearts and minds, means we safeguard our relationship with Jesus and ensure our eternal future in heaven. It is in this constancy and continuance, that the greatest power of Christian living is displayed. 

The spiritual message and input God supplied at the beginning was perfect and complete to start with and requires no adjustment, modernization or compromise, but only that we grow deeper in the understanding of it and more appreciative of the preciousness of it. 

How many have started out ‘in love with Jesus’ only to end up ‘in love with the world and the things of it'! This loss is tragic for it has eternal consequences.

This then, is the true expression of our faithfulness to God, that we never deviate from what He imparted to us at the beginning, and that we always maintain our fervent 'first love' toward Him and His Word! 

There is a reward promised by the Lord, to those who faithfully adhere to and do not turn or compromise from the principles and faith they first received – that promise is eternal life!


See also:
http://dailybiblefocus.blogspot.com.au/
http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion


1 comment:

  1. Why do we humans always have to make everything more complex and "better" in our own eyes? God gave us all the directions we needed with His written word. If our life was a city- it would be our map- how to find our way around, where to go for maintainance or types of help. Where to find appropriate recreation, how to be kept safe and so much more.

    We say our spiritual goal is Heaven, so shouldn't we be looking up the correct map and sticking to the basics that were first laid down? Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, He does not change, His word does not change, His direction has not changed.

    I am so glad that I have been taught these truths from the beginning.

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