At this point in our Christian life, how are we doing?
For those who have been called by God, who have been led to repentance, who have been baptized and given the gift of God’s Holy Spirit, who have entered into the fellowship of God’s Church—is there more to be done?
There is, and the first admonition from God’s Word is that we must keep what we have! Most important is that we retain God’s Holy Spirit. We are warned not to quench the Spirit—that is, to not suppress living godly lives (1 Thessalonians 5:19; Ephesians 4:30).
Remember that Saul lost God’s Holy Spirit, and quite possibly his chance for eternal life in God’s Kingdom (compare 1 Samuel 16:14). God rejected him, because he rejected God. Note what God says:
“‘I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments’” (1 Samuel 15:11).
Saul lost his grip on reality. He lost his former humility and replaced it with conceit and self-appeasing vanity. His audacity caused him to ignore God’s commands. Paul warns all Christians of the same danger when he states:
“For if anyone thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself” (Galatians 6:3).
How many have taken it upon themselves to decide a different direction, rather than following the lead of Jesus Christ through His faithful ministry? Does the following Scripture still apply, today?:
“Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you” (Hebrews 13:17).
In small ways and in large ones, we are challenged to “…hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). In fact, throughout both the Old and New Testament, those who are walking in obedience to and in the Way of God are explicitly instructed to faithfully continue and to never deviate.
If you have studied what we have written and been attentive to what has been preached, then you know that biblical prophecy is being dramatically fulfilled—all leading to the forthcoming return of Jesus Christ!
Holding fast to God is a life and death struggle. Now is not the time to relax our efforts; rather, we are to fervently cling to our calling, and “…so much the more as [we] see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).
