Bible 365 Devotional

 

 

I have always resonated with lists. For my mind, it’s a great way to move forward. In Paul’s concluding comments to the Corinthian church, he provides a short but powerful mini-list for making spiritual progress.   

   

Watch. This is not a passive watch like watching YouTube videos. This watch is a call to stay alert. Here is a great definition from the Complete Word Study Bible dictionary. “A mindfulness of threatening dangers which, with conscious earnestness and an alert mind, keeps it from all drowsiness and all slackening in the energy of faith and conduct.” There you go, couldn’t have said it better myself. But the rub is how? How do we stay alert spiritually? I don’t have all the answers, but I can venture that watching is a mindset of not letting down spiritually, not taking a spiritual vacation, or fleshing out. Just writing this is making me want to ask the Lord how to watch and how to help others watch.   

   

Stand fast in the faith. We might say stand firm in the faith. This is not abandoning what we believe, especially when pushed. When all is going smoothly and our faith is not being tested, standing firm is easier. It’s when the heat is on and the temptation comes to throw in the towel and quit that we must stand firm.   

   

Be brave. This is where I like the King James Bible’s version. Quit you like men. No slight to the ladies, but this is a military term that basically says don’t run, act like a warrior, cowboy up. Well, maybe not cowboy up, but you get the point. Bravery is not limited to men. Some of the bravest people I know are women. But we see in this list a certain fighting posture. Watching, standing firm in the faith, and being brave. Bravery is needed when the temptation to fear is present. But if this Holy Spirit inspired list encourages us to be brave then we have that capacity.   

   

Be strong. I have no idea where the idea that being a Christian is for the weak came from. Actually, I do have an idea. Deception is from the enemy, and painting Christianity as weak is his work. I heard a quote from a believer from years ago who declared Christianity is the strong man’s religion. Paul admonished the Ephesian church to be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. He also told Timothy to be strong in the grace that is in Christ. We may not be strong in ourselves, but we lean into the fact that we are united with Christ, and in Him, we are strong. In any case, being weak is not the mandate of the church.   

   

Now we are pumped up and ready for a fight, so verse 14 seems like a contradiction. “Let all you do be done with love.” If we don’t understand love, then Paul’s charge sounds as if we have gone from fighting to flower arrangement. But this is not the romantic love or the love we might have for steak or Oreos. This love is the agape love that Paul outlined in 1Corinthians 13. This is the God kind of giving love that requires strength because it does what is best for the other person. If this love were easy, everyone would do it. But this agape love requires quality decisions and strength of character. There is no contradiction in verses 13 and 14; these verses work together to help us make progress as we practice this list.   

   

Lord, thank you for equipping me to do what You instruct me to do. I can watch, stand firm in the faith, be brave and strong, and do everything in the giving kind of agape love.