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Spiritual Stature
Heaven
measures people not by their bank accounts, their
personal popularity ratings, or their university
degrees. Moral stature alone counts.
After
Paul received a vision of Jesus Christ that
completely changed his life, he said, For
me to live is Christ. Philippians 1:21.
Christianity, for him, consisted not in rituals,
forms and ceremonies, projects, plans, and
programs but in Christ. Paul, though
small in stature, cast a long shadow across the
centuries. He determined not to know any
thing
save Jesus Christ, and him crucified
and to preach Him in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power. (1 Corinthians 2:2,4.)
Pauls
goal should be ours. Christ likeness should be
our aim in life, Paul said, This one thing
I do, forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth unto those things which are
before, I press toward the mark for the prize of
the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13,14.
As
Christians we have, trials and temptations,
difficulties and hardships, interspersed with
heart satisfactions and holy joys. However, all
along, those who have the Spirit of God will have
the inner assurance that they are sons and
daughters of God. For as many as are led by
the Spirit of God, they are sons of God.
Romans 8:14.
The
Spirit of God will never led us into situations
that will overwhelm us. The prophet Isaiah
declared, When the enemy shall come in like
a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a
standard against him. Isaiah 59:19. Today
the tidal wave of sin has risen to flood stage,
ready to engulf the world, but this text says
that at such a time the Spirit of the Lord will
raise a standard in opposition. Not by
compromising with sin nor by lowering the
standards of the church to accommodate man in his
fallen state, but by exalting the standard of the
Spirit will Satan be defeated.
The
world presents standards utterly unacceptable to
the Christian. Some people seem to think that if
they were clever, they do not need to be
righteous. Their philosophy is, If you are smart
enough to get away with it, anything is alright.
Others
feel that they cannot go wrong if they go along
with the crowd. They pass off their
inconsistencies with a glib Everybodys
doing it. They defend their racy language,
smutty stories, personality clashes, scanty
attire, immodest behavior, and bold intemperance
with an appeal to Its the fashion
or I dont want to be an oddball.
These fear what others may think about them more
than what God thinks about them. However, God
expressly commands, Thou shalt not follow a
multitude to do evil. Exodus 23:2. Suppose
everybody in the world voted to keep Wednesday as
the Sabbath. Would that change God? Can God be
outvoted? Let the Bible answer: What if
some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make
the faith of God without effect God forbid:
yea, let God be true, but every man a liar.
Romans 3:3,4.
What
man thinks does not count anyway, for God
measures His people. He is measuring us now. Are
we ready to face the verdict of the judgment? The
word has gone forth, Rise, measure the
temple of God, and the altar, and them that
worship therein. Revelation 11:1.
When
the children of Israel became chummy
with the heathen peoples around them, they began
to clamor for a king that we
may be
like all the nations. (1 Samuel 8:20.) Why
were they so infatuated with the governments
about them? It is a sociological law that people
tend to be like whose company they enjoy.
When
reprimanding King Jehoshaphat, the Old Testament
prophet Jehu said, shouldest thou help the
ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord?
2 Chronicles 19:2.
No one
will ever be taller than his ideals as expressed
in his friendships. God wants us to make Jesus
Christ our Friend and Pattern. When the Spirit of
God lifts a standard against the enemy, He points
us to Jesus, for it is the Spirits special
work to glorify our Lord. (John
16:14.) Looking unto Jesus the author and
finisher of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), we
will become more and more like Him. The Spirit
helps us develop an image likeness of our Lord.
We all, with open face beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image from glory to glory even as by the
Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18.
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