Stay the Course

“You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:1)

The definition of strength, what is it really. Real strength has nothing to do with physical strength.

God expects us to be strong as we read in 2 Timothy 2:1. “Be Strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus. We each have a “Grace Tank”. This tank is like a bank account of sorts. We make “deposits” into our tank by being humble in Him. The more we rely on Him and depend on Him to help us make godly decisions whether in business or at home the more your grace account fills. Conversely, the more we act self-centered, selfish and do things our way, the more we deplete that account. As most of us know, it is much easier to spend than it is to save. The more we deposit into our Grace Tank the stronger our walk is with God.

There is a principle that as a Christ follower we need to live by. It is referred to as the Paradox Principle. It is defined as follows: You have to die to live (Philippians 1:21) and you have to be last to be first (Matthew 19:30). As a Christ follower, consider the example of our stewardship of the truth of the Gospel. As a soldier of Christ, we need to be sold on the cause. Yes, I said soldier for a reason. Think about it this way, everyday as a Christ follower the enemy is after you. It might be with big things or small things, but he is not happy that we have Jesus as our Lord and Savior and that he can no longer rule over us. We are in a constant battle for our lives. Not our spiritual lives, but our lives just the same. The enemy is the master of deception and lies. The enemy wants nothing more than to get between you and Jesus, to cause you to stumble and pull away from God. We need to be sold on the cause. What cause you might ask? I know I did when I first heard this. The cause is the Gospel. You have been left here on earth to share the Good News of Jesus. That is our number one job as a Christ follower. This does not mean when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior you need to be going door to door or standing on street corners yelling at the top of your lungs. It does however, mean we need to spread the Gospel whether through speech and writing or just by our actions. Our actions say more about us, the real us, what’s in our hearts, than anything else. Our actions will show others whether they want to be a Christ follower or stay unsaved. Unfortunately, there are some who profess to be “Christians”, but if you talk to them or watch them away from church they look no different than anyone of the world.

We are to be in the world, but not of the world. (John 8:23) We have been set apart. We are to act different from the unsaved. We are to show the love of Christ through our actions as well as our speech. If we say all the right things, but still do the wrong things, we are doing more harm to the world than good. To be spiritually weak is very risky, for not only you, but to the world around you.

I pray that you will stay in God’s Word, be in the world but not of the world. I pray you are blessed by reading this as much as I have been blesses by writing it. With all the Love of Christ have a Blessed and abundant day