I Was Just Thinking About – CASUALTIES.
The spiritual battlefield is littered with the wounded and fallen. A cause for this is addressed in today’s devotional by Dr. A.W. Tozer – NO TURNING BACK.
“With large blocks of evangelicals praying and preaching like Christians while they live and talk like worldlings, how much longer may we expect them to remain evangelical? Apostasy always begins with the conduct. First there is a wrong orientation of the life, a facing toward the lost world with yearning and enjoyment; later there comes a gradual surrender of the truth itself and a slipping back into unbelief. That has happened to individuals and denominations and it can happen to the whole present evangelical communion if it is not checked before it is too late. For this cause, the facing-both-ways attitude of our present Christianity is something to be alarmed about. And if that attitude were the result of plain backsliding there would be much more reason for optimism. Unchristian acts done by a Christian through weakness and over the protests of his better heart may be bad enough, but they are not likely to be fatal. But when he does them with the sanction of his teachers and with the belief that they are all a part of the Christian way, how is he to be rescued?
VERSE: John 6:66
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
THOUGHT
There is turning back which is deliberate and decisive. There is also that which is gradual and almost insensible. It is the latter to which we may be most vulnerable. We are in the world. Are we of it, too?
PRAYER
I am in this world but, Lord, I don’t want to be of it. Help me to discern the difference.”
As I reflected on the above, my prevailing thought was – What is our duty toward those who have fallen? Do we leave the wounded and fallen on the spiritual battlefield? Two thoughts occurred to me – – –
First: Jude 1:22-23 – “And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others, show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.”
Second: Galatians 6:1-2 – “Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the Law of Christ.”
Prayerfully – remember and consider these things with me!
The spiritual battlefield is littered with the wounded and fallen. A cause for this is addressed in today’s devotional by Dr. A.W. Tozer – NO TURNING BACK.
“With large blocks of evangelicals praying and preaching like Christians while they live and talk like worldlings, how much longer may we expect them to remain evangelical? Apostasy always begins with the conduct. First there is a wrong orientation of the life, a facing toward the lost world with yearning and enjoyment; later there comes a gradual surrender of the truth itself and a slipping back into unbelief. That has happened to individuals and denominations and it can happen to the whole present evangelical communion if it is not checked before it is too late. For this cause, the facing-both-ways attitude of our present Christianity is something to be alarmed about. And if that attitude were the result of plain backsliding there would be much more reason for optimism. Unchristian acts done by a Christian through weakness and over the protests of his better heart may be bad enough, but they are not likely to be fatal. But when he does them with the sanction of his teachers and with the belief that they are all a part of the Christian way, how is he to be rescued?
VERSE: John 6:66
From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.
THOUGHT
There is turning back which is deliberate and decisive. There is also that which is gradual and almost insensible. It is the latter to which we may be most vulnerable. We are in the world. Are we of it, too?
PRAYER
I am in this world but, Lord, I don’t want to be of it. Help me to discern the difference.”
As I reflected on the above, my prevailing thought was – What is our duty toward those who have fallen? Do we leave the wounded and fallen on the spiritual battlefield? Two thoughts occurred to me – – –
First: Jude 1:22-23 – “And indeed, have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; and to still others, show mercy tempered with fear, hating even the clothing stained by the flesh.”
Second: Galatians 6:1-2 – “Brothers, if someone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual should restore him with a spirit of gentleness. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted. Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the Law of Christ.”
Prayerfully – remember and consider these things with me!
No comments:
Post a Comment