It been a rough couple of weeks for Bible believing Christians (perhaps its more accurate to say months and even years)! Values godly people embrace and hold dear have been trampled upon by a secular, Christ-rejecting, independence asserting culture. Violent people in the name of a religion have killed innocent children and Christ followers. Biblical values have been flaunted and trampled upon with godless glee. Injustice has had a heyday. Outright lies have been told with the excuse, “Oh, that’s just politics.” How bad can it get?
How should a Christian respond? Francis Schaeffer asked this pertinent question…”How Should We Then Live?” What can we expect moving forward?
This morning in my Bible reading during “coffee with the Lord” I think I got at least a partial answer from what imprisoned Apostle Paul wrote to the Christian congregation in Philippi as they faced the challenges of living out their faith in Christ in the ancient pagan world (Check out Philippians 2:27-30)…
He told them… “Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ!” (My comment? Christians live by a completely different set of values – let us never forget it!) He went on to say, “May I hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side-by-side for the faith of the gospel and not frightened in anything by your opponents!” (May God help us to avoid the trap of disunity – fighting with one another rather than focusing on presenting the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to a hurting world in the power of the Holy Spirit!) Then he reminded the Philippian Christians, “For it has been granted to you that for the sake of Christ you should not only believe in Him but also suffer for His sake!” (It is so easy to forget this fact… suffering for the Lord, for His cause, for the sake of righteousness [i.e. for the right reasons – never the wrong] has always been the lot of those who faithfully followed Christ!)
Hey Apostle Paul… Just want to say, “Thank you for reminding me!”
Coffee With The Lord 