Introduction. As we prepare to make a purchase, one of our biggest concerns is quality and reliability. We study product reviews to see if it has been thoroughly tested and approved. The more extreme the tests, the better we feel: a zipper moved up and down thousands of times, fabric washed and stretched again and again, appliances run twenty-four hours day after day. We carefully consider the things we want in a product and look for assurances it will do those things.
We are always pleased when the things we own meet our expectations. When a car reaches 200,000 miles, an appliance still works, and furniture still looks good after 15 or 20 years, we are happy. But when something we have purchased fails to meet even our minimum standards, we feel cheated.
God feels the same way. After studying the Scriptures, we find that the feelings described above are part of being created in the image and likeness of God and that he feels exactly the same way about those men and women he has purchased.
We are always pleased when the things we own meet our expectations. When a car reaches 200,000 miles, an appliance still works, and furniture still looks good after 15 or 20 years, we are happy. But when something we have purchased fails to meet even our minimum standards, we feel cheated.
God feels the same way. After studying the Scriptures, we find that the feelings described above are part of being created in the image and likeness of God and that he feels exactly the same way about those men and women he has purchased.
We know how happy God felt when Abraham passed his tests and proved himself to be reliable. When God called he went (Heb 11:8-10), when God made an impossible promise he believed (Rom 4:17-25), and when God gave a difficult duty he fulfilled it (James 2:21-24). God felt the same about Job, Daniel, and Noah (Ezek 14:14, 20). These were men he purchased and made his own. Their entire lives proved they were worthy and God revealed to us they were approved since they passed the tests necessary to prove reliability and quality.
God warned Habakkuk that regardless of the difficulty of the tests that life, providence, or even God’s punishment of the wicked, our faith proves our quality: The righteous will live by his faith. (Hab 2:4). Later the Spirit expanded this statement: my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. (Heb 10:28)
We are just like God! We have no pleasure in a purchase that breaks or cannot do what we were assured it would do. God feels exactly the same way about us! Each of us was bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20) redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus (1 Pet 1:18-19). Like all other products we were "created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Eph 2:10). Just like the Energizer battery, we need to go "on and on and on..." Our reliability and quality are based on doing what God bought us to do. We have to be prepared to do these things under all conditions and at all times. It is during the most extreme conditions that God needs us the most and we need to be able to perform for him.
When our faith faces challenges. If we only have enough faith to serve God under ideal conditions, can God be pleased? What happens when "the rain descends, and the floods come, the winds blow, and beat upon our house"? Are we founded on rock or sand? Will we stand or fall (Mt 7:24-27)? The seed sown in our hearts can grow if the soil is good. If we do not remove the rocks or thorns we created ourselves, we bring no fruit to perfection (Lk 8:13-15). We are expected to trust and obey even under the most extreme conditions. For if we faint in the day of adversity our faith is small. (Prov 24:10) and if we shrink back, his soul will have no pleasure. But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul." (Heb 10:39)
No one knows what tomorrow will bring. But like David we need to be prepared; "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:" (Ps 57:7). We need to be humble, "let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1Cor 10:12), and we need to be prepared, "take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day," (Eph 6:13). It is only by doing these things are can we "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil 2:12).
We must "do all to stand." We must show God our quality and reliability by taking "up the whole armor" and thus "withstand in the evil day." Under the ideal conditions we are living under today, we may not see a need for the great effort necessary to put on the whole armor of God. But God knows better. We do not know what tomorrow might bring, so we must always be prepared.
Content with "toy" faith? A little child under the protection of his parents is content with a cardboard shield, a plastic breastplate, and a wooden sword. He has no real fear and there are no real dangers. That’s exactly how some feel today! But "our struggle is against rulers, powers, world forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness" (Eph 6:12). For the child it is just a game, but for us it is a battle of life and death. It doesn’t take much time, effort, or cost to produce a toy. The shiny plastic and beautiful colors painted on the shield look almost real. As a babe in Christ, that may be all we have, but as we become men and women we realize we need something more. We then pay the price to get the real thing. You can’t quench the fiery darts of the evil one with a cardboard shield! You can’t do battle with a plastic sword.
Conclusion. When in "the evil day" we will be glad "having done all," we are still standing. Our "adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet 5:8). When he finds a weakness, he will exploit it as he always has. Just as he used the serpent and tree with Eve (2 Cor 11:3), trials with Job (Jas 1:3; 5:10-11), a woman bathing with David (Mt 5:28), and covetousness with Balaam (2 Pet 2:14-16), so he will today. Some will drown in destruction and perdition, or like a sow being washed return to the mire. But those who still stand after being "put to grief in manifold trials" have "the proof of faith, more precious than gold proved by fire," (1 Pet 1:6-7). Remember:
God warned Habakkuk that regardless of the difficulty of the tests that life, providence, or even God’s punishment of the wicked, our faith proves our quality: The righteous will live by his faith. (Hab 2:4). Later the Spirit expanded this statement: my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. (Heb 10:28)
We are just like God! We have no pleasure in a purchase that breaks or cannot do what we were assured it would do. God feels exactly the same way about us! Each of us was bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20) redeemed with the precious blood of Jesus (1 Pet 1:18-19). Like all other products we were "created in Christ Jesus for good works" (Eph 2:10). Just like the Energizer battery, we need to go "on and on and on..." Our reliability and quality are based on doing what God bought us to do. We have to be prepared to do these things under all conditions and at all times. It is during the most extreme conditions that God needs us the most and we need to be able to perform for him.
When our faith faces challenges. If we only have enough faith to serve God under ideal conditions, can God be pleased? What happens when "the rain descends, and the floods come, the winds blow, and beat upon our house"? Are we founded on rock or sand? Will we stand or fall (Mt 7:24-27)? The seed sown in our hearts can grow if the soil is good. If we do not remove the rocks or thorns we created ourselves, we bring no fruit to perfection (Lk 8:13-15). We are expected to trust and obey even under the most extreme conditions. For if we faint in the day of adversity our faith is small. (Prov 24:10) and if we shrink back, his soul will have no pleasure. But we are not of them that shrink back unto perdition; but of them that have faith unto the saving of the soul." (Heb 10:39)
No one knows what tomorrow will bring. But like David we need to be prepared; "My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed:" (Ps 57:7). We need to be humble, "let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (1Cor 10:12), and we need to be prepared, "take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day," (Eph 6:13). It is only by doing these things are can we "work out our own salvation with fear and trembling." (Phil 2:12).
We must "do all to stand." We must show God our quality and reliability by taking "up the whole armor" and thus "withstand in the evil day." Under the ideal conditions we are living under today, we may not see a need for the great effort necessary to put on the whole armor of God. But God knows better. We do not know what tomorrow might bring, so we must always be prepared.
Content with "toy" faith? A little child under the protection of his parents is content with a cardboard shield, a plastic breastplate, and a wooden sword. He has no real fear and there are no real dangers. That’s exactly how some feel today! But "our struggle is against rulers, powers, world forces of darkness, and spiritual forces of wickedness" (Eph 6:12). For the child it is just a game, but for us it is a battle of life and death. It doesn’t take much time, effort, or cost to produce a toy. The shiny plastic and beautiful colors painted on the shield look almost real. As a babe in Christ, that may be all we have, but as we become men and women we realize we need something more. We then pay the price to get the real thing. You can’t quench the fiery darts of the evil one with a cardboard shield! You can’t do battle with a plastic sword.
Conclusion. When in "the evil day" we will be glad "having done all," we are still standing. Our "adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour" (1 Pet 5:8). When he finds a weakness, he will exploit it as he always has. Just as he used the serpent and tree with Eve (2 Cor 11:3), trials with Job (Jas 1:3; 5:10-11), a woman bathing with David (Mt 5:28), and covetousness with Balaam (2 Pet 2:14-16), so he will today. Some will drown in destruction and perdition, or like a sow being washed return to the mire. But those who still stand after being "put to grief in manifold trials" have "the proof of faith, more precious than gold proved by fire," (1 Pet 1:6-7). Remember:
- ... the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. (Rom 8:18)