“You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything.” (2 Timothy 2:1-7 ESV)
What is the grace that is in Christ Jesus? The grace of God,
which is bringing us salvation, is training us to renounce ungodliness and
worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while
we wait for our Lord’s return. For Jesus Christ “gave himself for us to redeem
us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own
possession who are zealous for good works.” “For we are his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we
should walk in them.” (see Titus 2:11-14; Ephesians 2:8-10)
The grace of God is what sent Jesus Christ to that cross to
take upon himself the sins of the entire world so that, in his death, he might
put our sins to death with him so that, by God-persuaded faith in him, we might
die with him to sin and now walk with him in obedience to his commands, in his
power and strength. By God-persuaded faith in the Lord Jesus we are able to
follow our Lord in obedience to his plan and purpose for our lives, and we are
able to deny self and to follow our Lord wherever he leads us in doing whatever
it is that he has for us to do, as his followers.
Our lives are now to be surrendered to the Lord Jesus, to
doing his will, and our lives are no longer our own to be lived however our
flesh desires. For Jesus bought us back for God (he redeemed us) with his blood
shed for us on that cross, out of our lives of slavery to sin, so that we might
now honor and serve our Lord in walks of obedience to his will and purpose for
our lives. So we are not to be caught up in the trappings of this sinful world,
passionately involved in what is of the world, and not of God. But we should
all be pursuing God’s will and purpose for our lives, under his guidance.
And part of his will and purpose for our lives is that we
should be sharing the truth of the gospel with other people and leading them to
walk with the Lord in walks of surrender to his will and purpose for our lives.
We should be teaching them and encouraging them in what it means to be saved
from our sins and to have eternal life with God, and in what that should look
like in all practicality in our everyday lives. This is called discipleship,
making disciples of people of faith in the Lord Jesus, teaching them to obey
the Lord, to surrender their lives to him, and to forsake their sinful
practices.
But when this is how we live, we will be persecuted, even by
others who claim to believe in the same Jesus as we do. For we live in a day
and time when the gospel message is being twisted and diluted to suit the flesh
of humans and their worldly pursuits rather than to teach lives surrendered to
the Lord, dead to sin, in walks of obedience to his commands. But we are not to
let the opinions of other humans deter us from following the Lord in obedience.
But we are to run with perseverance the race God has marked out for us in
obeying his commands and in following his plan for us.
So we need to be students of the Scriptures who study them
in context, and who are learning and following the ways of the Lord and not the
ways of this sinful world and of human flesh. And we should make certain that
what we are believing is what the Scriptures teach, when taught in context, so
that we are not spreading lies and not the truth. For the truth is that
salvation from sin means we die to sin and we now walk (in conduct) in obedience
to our Lord and to his commands. For if sin is what we practice, and not
obedience to God, we will not have eternal life with God.
[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 1:12-13; John
6:44; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 2:6-8; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14;
Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; Galatians 5:16-21; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians
4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; 1
Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:5-10; 1 John 2:3-6; 1 John 3:4-10]
An
Original Work / September 11, 2012
Christ’s
Free Servant, Sue J Love
Bombs are bursting. Night is falling.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Trust Him with your life today.
Make Him your Lord and your Savior.
Turn from your sin. Follow Jesus.
He will forgive you of your sin;
Cleanse your heart, made new within.
Men betraying: Our trust fraying.
On our knees to God we’re praying,
Seeking God to give us answers
That are only found in Him.
God is sovereign over all things.
Nothing from His mind escaping.
He has all things under His command,
And will work all for good.
Jesus Christ is gently calling
You to follow Him in all ways.
Men deceiving: We’re believing
In our Lord, and interceding
For our nation and its people
To obey their God today.
He is our hope for our future.
For our wounds He offers suture.
He is all we need for this life.
Trust Him with your life today.
Soldiers of Christ Jesus
An Original Work / February 11,
2025
Christ’s Free
Servant, Sue J Love
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