Bryans little world.

Sorry for not blogging more often.  I will try to do better…

Let me start this out by giving a small disclaimer….  I work on this all the time.  I am not the poster child for this.  And I fail badly all the time in this. So what is “this”: Standing Firm.  The scriptures in 2 Thessalonians Chapter 2 says: “Meanwhile, we’ve got our hands full continually thanking God for you, our good friends – so loved by God! God picked you out as his from the very start. Think of it: included in God’s original plan of salvation by the bond of faith in the living truth. This is the life of the Spirit he invited you to through the Message we delivered, in which you get in on the glory of our Master, Jesus Christ. So, friends, take a firm stand, feet on the ground and head high. Keep a tight grip on what you were taught.”  From this scripture I do find a few “between the lines” messages.  First one that I notice right away is the life is not easy.  Whenever we need to “take a stand”, there is always some sort of opposing force out there.  It could be a simple decision or it could be something huge and ugly getting ready to attack you.  Whatever the case there is always a force to be reckon with.   It reminds me of that great song that my father-in-law sings, “As the Anchor Holds”.  If there was no force (wind, waves) then there would be no need for an anchor.  So standing firm is not because we have everything on easy street.  Quite the opposite.  There is this rumor out there that when you become a believer in Jesus that everything will become easy.  Let me tell you the truth of this matter.  It isn’t.  When you are facing problems it is easy to give it to the Lord (and free by the way).  But by being a believer doesn’t make you exempt.  So Jesus knows this but confirms to us that if we stand firm we will get through it.

I have a friend of mine that once told me that, “storms come and go but it is how you stand in them that determines where you faith lays.”  We lean way too much on our own understanding for too many things.  We (and I) need to stop acting that way.  We need to “stand firm” on something.  In my walk in the Lord, I have strayed.  I almost strayed to the point of no return to be honest with you.  But I kept coming up with the question, “Where do I place my future?”.  In my experience, it didn’t matter how far off the path I found myself from living out God’s will for me, He was still there trying to get me back.  And when I found myself strong in the Lord or ”Standing Firm” if you will, I found myself with more of an inner peace and happiness.  So I stand on Jesus.  And as I stand , I realized that my stance needs to be firm (this part is hard). 

The scripture in 2 Thes. tells us that we need to hold tight the things that we have been taught.  You know it and I know it, that it is fun to rebel every once in a while.  And believe me when I tell you that rebelling can be fun, but it is always at a cost.  I need to be firm.  I need to stand on the things that I have been taught.  We all do! We know in our heads what is right and what is wrong.  Why is it some much harder to place that in our hearts and ultimately in our actions?  For me it was the pay out.  Let me be honest.  There was somethings that I tricked myself to believing that the payout for rebelling was greater than obeying God.  But that wasn’t being true to what I believe.  See my answer to the question of where I placed my future came in this form.  I don’t like hot places,  in fact I hate the Central Valley this time of the year, so I know that Hell would not be a place that I want to stay.  That was tongue in cheek.  The real reason is because I have a debt.  I have a debt to pay back to God for getting me this far in my life even though I didn’t deserve a bailout.  He bailed me out of some pretty miserable places, emotionally and spiritually.  He gave me access to Heaven that on my own I wouldn’t have. And so I have this debt.  I want to serve God.  I can’t use him any longer as some sort of convenient 7-11 store.  I choose to stand firm on Him.  How about you?  You know Christianity has this reputation that you have to wear suits to church and have to put a fish on your car after you become a Christian.  That simply isn’t true.  I started to ride a Harley Davidson and I am proud of that.  I am who I am because God created me that way.  I like to make slip and slides down river embankments, and I like to camp.  And I can do all those things and still love the Lord.  I do have to follow what the Bible asks of me, but after Jesus did what He did for me, I am willing to do anything He asks.  Oh, and the payout.  The payout for being a believer in Jesus is Heaven.  An eternal peace, and a place of true living.  And you get to be with the Lord forever.  This is the payout (even though we don’t deserve it).

Standing Firm give us hope, happiness, and eventually eternity if we are standing in the right spot.  Where are you standing?  What motivates your direction in your life, if you have one?  Let me encourage you to seek God, for He is on standby waiting just for you.  STAND FIRM IN CHRIST.

Thanks for reading,

Bryan