Standing Firm in Christ

January 27, 2013 Background Scripture: Philippians 3:12 – 4:1 Lesson Passage: Philippians 3:12 – 4:1 Children of God are always confronted with choices. We must choose God’s way or our own way. Adam was given this choice in the Garden of Eden in the beginning. Abel, Enoch, Noah, and Abraham all had to choose between God’s way and their own. Anyone who has been called of God to do something on His behalf has many choices to make along the way. Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Joshua all had choices to make. One of the most often quoted passages of scripture come from the text where an aging Joshua challenged the nation of Israel after they had come into Canaan to choose between God and the idols their ancestors once worshiped. Taking a stand for right is not new for God’s children. In fact, it is part of our new way of life. It is never one choice and then all is well. You take a stand and overcome one obstacle and it seems as if you are immediately confronted with another choice that has to be made. What complicates this even more is that it appears to be a choice that goes against what we really deep down inside would rather do—or in some cases, rather not do. Nevertheless, we must choose and stand firm on our decision. Christians are continuously being challenged to make a choice. We can choose to stand firm on our commitment to be Christians or we can take a stand with those who are not Christians. This is not a one-time decision as far as sanctification is concerned. We must constantly affirm our position through our daily walk. Our behavior from day to day is a reflection of the choices we make. Satan will attack us from every conceivable angle. He will entice us with the desires of our fleshly minds. He will threaten us with the insecurities of our hearts. He will attempt to shame us with the failures of our past. Satan’s attack is relentless. He never appears to grow tired although we sometimes wonder if we are going to be able to stand up after we are knocked down again. Paul reminds the Christians at Philippi that standing firm is an indicator of our spiritual maturity (or perfection as used by the King James Version of the bible). We are not to act as if we have overcome all obstacles and now we live life on cruise control. None of us have arrived yet. We still have many struggles in this life. Paul suggested that we focus our energy on working towards goals in our future and not to be entangled with worrying about the past. Paul makes this statement after boasting about his own pedigree as a Jewish leader. No amount of glorying about our past will help us to stand firm today or move us closer to our goal for the future. Wallowing in sorrow about yesterday’s disappointments and failures will not help us either. Both personal praise and pity parties are ineffective when it comes to preparing us for the future. If we are going to move forward, then we must let go of the past with its triumphs and defeats. We must depend on God to lead us forward. He often does so by giving us role models to model the things that He commands of us. We must believe that our future reward is worth the rigors of today’s labor. We must see that the hope that God places before us is greater than anything that is behind us. Robert C. Hudson January 14, 2013