Your Identity – Not What People See Or Think - Day 5
OPENING PRAYER:
Father, teach me today from Your Word. Help me to see it as the truth that it is. Change me from the inside out. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen
As for us, we can’t help but thank God for you, dear brothers and sisters loved by the Lord. We are always thankful that God chose you to be among the first to experience salvation—a salvation that came through the Spirit who makes you holy and through your belief in the truth. He called you to salvation when we told you the Good News; now you can share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say. 2 Thessalonians 2:13-17 NLT
REFLECT:
It is so exciting to read here the joy and thankfulness that Paul, Timothy, and Silas have for the believers in the church in Thessalonica. The church was planted in this prominent city within Macedonia and in a city that was hostile to the gospel. Acts chapter 17 details the opposition that Paul and the believers faced within the city. It was not an easy place to live as a Christ-follower. Therefore, Paul strongly encourages the believers there regarding the fact that they have been made “holy” by the Spirit of God and hold to a “belief in the truth.” He encourages them to “stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching” they have learned. In Christ and through the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives, they are the truth-keepers and those that will share this good news (the gospel) with those who are lost, confused, and deceived. Our identity as part of the body of Christ is the hope of the world. In Christ alone, through the love and grace of Jesus, all can find “eternal comfort and a wonderful hope.”
APPLY:
“Christians are in constant danger of being swept down-stream by the currents of ungodly culture. We are in danger of slipping backward in our Christian experience because of the trials and daily negative influences of the world.” (Thomas L. Constable) Don’t you see and feel this in your world today? There are many pressures on us to accept ideas and practices contrary to the Scriptures. All threaten who we are and what we are to believe. Identity determines our behavior. We cannot live for Christ if we do not understand who we are in Christ. “Christianity is not merely something that is personally meaningful and instructive for individual behavior….it is ‘true to what it is.’ The Christian has nothing to fear from the world of ideas because ‘true truth’ cannot be found by any other means. Without this revelation, men and women are lost, both philosophically (they do not know who they are) and morally (they do not know how to live).” Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D. We can “stand firm and keep a strong grip” on the truth of God’s Word because it IS the truth. It does have answers for today and that makes all the difference.
CLOSING PRAYER:
Dear God, I thank you for changing me and rooting me in the truth because of what Jesus Christ has done in my life through the Holy Spirit. Help me to live today and to stand firm. Help me to love and be the good news to all I encounter or are led to. In Jesus name, Amen.
WORSHIP: