“With all these things in mind, dear brothers and sisters, stand firm and keep a strong grip on the teaching we passed on to you both in person and by letter.”
– 2 Thessalonians 2:15
The very first image I got when I read this passage was of Captain America in his newest movie Civil War. (I think I watch too many action films, ha, if that’s even possible)
Do you remember that scene though when Bucky wasn’t himself and he was trying to fly the helicopter away?? Captain America kept him from doing so by grabbing the leg of the helicopter and the railing of the building…?
That has nothing to do with the Bible, but the earnestness in Captain’s actions is something I’d like to park on.
The last couple weeks I’ve been reading through the Go Eat Pop Corn books (Gal., Eph., Phil., and Col.) and just started 1 and 2 Thessalonians. All throughout those books, there is a theme that stuck out to me that Paul kept mentioning to his fellow believers.
Here are a few passages that caught my eye:
“Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do His work and build up the church, the body of Christ… Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.”
– Ephesians 4:12,14
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“I have not stopped thanking God for you, I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you may grow in your knowledge of God… I pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe Him…”- Ephesians 1:16-17,19
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“I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding. For I want you to understand what really matters, so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return. May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation…”
-Philippians 1:9-11
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“We ask God to give you complete knowledge of His will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.”
– Colossians 1:9-10
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“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grown down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”
– Colossians2:6-7
And I have to force myself to stop sharing verses now. There’s so many.
Did you catch the theme?
One of Paul’s main encouragement and charge for the churches was to continue to grow in their knowledge of God.
Why did he encourage them to do this?
- Their lives would produce every kind of good fruit (fruits of the Spirit)
- They would overflow with thankfulness
- Their lives will honor God
- Their lives will please God
- Confidence in Christ
- They will experience the power of God
- They won’t be tossed and blown about by new teachings; they won’t be easily influenced
I’m sure I’m not the only one that does this, but occasionally I joke around about wanting to go back to being a kid, especially to take all the naps I threw a fit over. Or I wish I could go back to when life decisions didn’t matter: I didn’t have to worry about when and how food and transportation were provided. Everything just worked itself out.
But when you take a moment to really think about that: not ever growing up… how horrible would that be? I’d be miserable. That and those around me. At some point we all need to grow up. Obviously we can’t help puberty and growing up height-wise, but we can help how we grow up maturity-wise.
How is your spiritual life? Is it rooted in God, continually growing each day? Is your life on a firm foundation, or is it built on the sand, easily thrown around as soon as any wind and rain in life come? Are you standing firm, taking a strong grip on the scripture and all that is has to teach you? And if so, how strong is your grip?
Are you gripping it for dear life, knowing God’s Word brings life, peace, power, and hope? Or are you just gripping it because you know you should?
I pray you (and I… since I desperately need to do this myself) continually choose to grip God’s Word will all of your might, with all eagerness… so that we can continually live lives that honor God and bring glory to His name.
Hope you have a blessed week,
Woman of Purity
Woman of Purity 