Those who Endure!

He who Endures to the End shall be saved! Matt10:22

Why do so Few endure fighting the Good fight of Faith? Aside from those who are supposedly saved inside the System and remain in bondage to their sin and disobedient to God. The Real question is focused on those WHO came into Christ through Genuine Repentance and Faith Proven by Deeds; and then grow complacent toward the things of God.

Truly they have been Partakers of the Holy Spirit and Tasted the Good Word of God and the Powers of the age to come.

So why do they grow weary in well doing and lose heart?

The Word had indeed taken Root in them and produced a crop. The evidence is clear in most cases. But somewhere along the line their perception of spiritual matters went askew. They become indifferent to the Word and no longer Dig Deep into the treasure trough of Truth. As a result their perception of Good and Evil is off center. Compromise is inevitable. Soon they are no longer Standing fast in One Spirit, with one Mind, Striving together for the faith of the Gospel. (Phil1:27) Instead they are Striving about words, methods and objectives. Accord is broken as their hearts refuse to yield to the Word of God.

Sin may or may not be the issue involved here. Many get themselves wrapped up in the world by degree and fail to recognize the damage it is doing to their Spiritual well-being. The enemy is ‘Rationalization’. They convince themselves that by showing love or patience to everyone, minus the contention, it will strike a balance more acceptable to the Nature of God. But lacking real discernment is the critical matter. Surly people have gone to extremes on both sides of this dilemma. We’ve all seen the over zealous miss-guided people flying in the face of everyone with stinging rebukes and mean spirited insults. And at the same time we are all aware of the common presentation of the ‘Love Gospel’, Repeat after me crowd who run around with John3:16 banners. But BOTH sides are wrong and surly NOT in the Spirit. Yet we Cannot ignore the Commands of Scripture to favor our own opinions in all this.

Contending earnestly for the Faith (Jude4) is equally as important as Faith Working by Love! We may not all be exactly the same in our approach to this, but unless we are Striving together with that One Mind in the faith we are Certainly NOT going to be on the same page in any of our endeavors. Further, complacency will make you resentful toward those who are Striving, You will see their admonishments for Unity as a demand instead of a Challenge to get back on track. Because of this flawed perception your heart will wax cold toward fellow brethren. The deeper you descend into spiritual insensitivity the more these matters will stir your ire and the closer you will be to giving up entirely.

What leads to this state of affairs? Simply LACK of Diligent Study and focus on the things of God. But the process is very subtle and you will hardly notice it unless you’re in a fervent Spiritual environment. Most easily fall prey to that ‘form of godliness with no power’ when they neglect the weighty matters of life. Study may indeed continue, but it’s shallow, only touching the surface issues. Pulling Down Strongholds and casting down arguments is out of the question because your own obedience is NOT fulfilled! (2Cor10:4-5) As a result any admonishments against complacency irritate you like someone dragging their finger nails across a chalk board. You begin to form a mental image in your mind of more ‘committed’ brethren as harsh and intolerant. Rather than their devotion to God calling you to a deeper commitment it fosters further aversion toward imitating their enthusiasm.

It’s easy to criticize someone in the arena taking the arrows and making an effort to get the Truth out. Zeal is often misconstrued as too extreme. Christ and His Disciples were habitually misunderstood because they were too Narrow for the religious System. But the naysayers are always in the majority and they incessantly have a better way of doing things in their minds. (although they are NEVER actually doing it!) They will be quick to tell you what you’re doing wrong. Perhaps this stems from an over estimation of their own spirituality. The Shallow inevitably compare themselves among themselves due to their lack of discernment. If they ever realized how far off the Path they are it could very well open their eyes again to the Truth.

This goes far beyond a weakness of faith or infirmity toward temptations. You Can’t drink Milk forever! There comes a time to Grow up. The Race is set before you. It’s your personal responsibility to Work out your Salvation and Make your calling Sure. God can’t do it for you. If you are lead by the Spirit then WALK in the Spirit! Your lack of diligence is an offense to God. Your with Him or against Him, there’s no halfway point. You fail to endure, grounded, steadfast and immovable, you lose it all. The

Narrow Way

is a difficult and solitary Walk. Truth will Never be in fashion. The Worldly will hate you, especially the religious systems. Try to win their approval with passive submission and you may as well join them. They relish acts of charity but they despise contention.  The worst thing you can do is convince yourself that their ‘good works’ have some kind of merit in God’s Kingdom. If you’re not willing to stand aloof of their Systems and endure the displeasure of family and friends, you’ll Never understand those who ARE Doing it, and you will learn to resent the Truth! Remember: ‘The Wisdom from Above is WILLING to YIELD’, will you?