Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Strength and Compassion”
Our Bible verse for today: “Proclaim the message; persist in it whether convenient or not; rebuke, correct, and encourage with great patience and teaching.” 2 Timothy 4:2 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “We need strength and compassion to handle tough times in a God-honoring way.
I probably stopped too soon as I quoted the verse above. I should have included the next three verses as well: “For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. They will turn away from hearing the truth and will turn aside to myths. But as for you, be serious about everything, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.”
“They will not tolerate sound doctrine.” “They will turn away from hearing the truth.” “They will multiply teachers for themselves.” Those times are here my friends. We live in a day when Biblical truth is no longer welcomed in the public square and those of us who contend for it are increasingly being portrayed as narrow-minded intolerant bigots. Just the other day I heard Republican Presidential candidate Marco Rubio publically declare that he’s convinced Christianity is under attack in our society and that the only beliefs that are no longer tolerated, are Christian beliefs. I think he’s right.
Culturally we’re headed for rough waters in the years ahead. These will be trying times for faithful Bible-believing Christians. But this is actually nothing new. For 2000 years Christians in every society and in every culture have always found themselves to be “counter-cultural”, meaning that there has always been a clash between Biblical values and the values of the world.
The answer for us is the same as it has always been for Christians everywhere, in every culture, throughout history. We are to be strong, we are to be faithful, and we are to do it with love and compassion. We must know what we believe, we must know why we believe it, and then we must simply stand for the truth. Even if we have to take our lumps while standing for the truth – still, we stand.
In order to do that, we have to be strong. But, we must also be compassionate. Lost sinners are exactly that – they’re lost. They’re confused. They lack an understanding of Biblical truth. And we’re not going to win any arguments (or converts) with angry rhetoric and mean-spirited attacks. If we want to win people for Christ we have to do it the way that Jesus did it – we have to love them into the Kingdom. We must stand for truth – courageously and unapologetically, but we must do so with love and compassion.
Is it possible to be both strong and compassionate at the same time? Not only is it possible, it’s essential. We will spend this month devotionally considering how to be both strong and compassionate for the sake of Christ.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 