15 July 2014 - standing firm

15 July 2014 - standing firm

Unless your faith is firm
you shall not be firm!

To fear the strength of the world is a temptation we all face.  Especially when it comes at us from several different directions it is difficult to ignore.  When Rezin and Pekah come at us at once we need to remember that "God upholds his city for ever."  These words can become a prayer that guards us. Perhaps work, relationships, and health all seem allied against us.  We need to remember, "God upholds his city for ever" and we are the living stones of which that city is built (cf. 1 Pet 2:5).

When the world wants to "tear Judah asunder" and appoint a new king we need to hear the LORD say, "This shall not stand, it shall not be!"  These words can become a prayer of protection. The world has a sphere of power.  But our hearts need not yield to the world.  It cannot overthrow us, cannot appoint a king within, cannot exercise power over us, and cannot cause us to sin unless we don't trust in God's protection.  If our faith is firm we shall stand firm.  When we ask God's protection from the world's incursion we experience his mighty deeds of deliverance.  The world may surround us, but they are turned away at the borders of our hearts.

For lo! the kings assemble,
they come on together;
They also see, and at once are stunned,
terrified, routed.

We are meant to experience profound freedom and peace under God's protection.  We must remember to seek this protection constantly, with deep faith.  We must "ask in faith, not doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed about by the wind.  For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord, since he is a man of two minds, unstable in all his ways" (cf. Jam. 1:6-8)  If our faith is firm we shall be firm.

The reason Jesus does mighty deeds is to help us to trust him more.  Capernaum, Chorazin, and Bethsaida continue to trust in themselves in spite of seeing Jesus work in them. Jesus invites them to the faith that will let them stand firm but they continue to trust in themselves instead. Because they do, they cannot stand firm:

Will you be exalted to heaven?
You will go down to the nether world.

Jesus wants us to trust him more.  He helps us to do so.  He tells us that if we aren't ready to believe him we can begin to believe his works.  We can begin to believe his power at work.  We begin to see that his presence in Christians is stronger than the power of the one who is in the world (cf. 1 Joh. 4:4).  He doesn't show this to us so that we can be entertained and then go on with life as usual.

For if the mighty deeds done in your midst had been done in Sodom,
it would have remained until this day.

He does mighty deeds to increase our faith so that we may stand firm.  Whether those deeds are flashy, like healings, or less flashy, like unchanging joy and peace amidst a world of sorrow and fear, like the unchanging truth of the Church in the face of a world that demands it change, we need to be grateful for them.  We need to be built up by them until we move from trusting the works to the one who does them.  We need to cherish them within our hearts so that our faith in Jesus may be strong and increase and we may stand firm in him.

It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (cf. Gal 5:1).