Are you strong enough to stand your ground?

Posted byoakhillcrossvillePosted inUncategorized
Good morning everyone,
 
Our theme for this month: “Lifelong learning”
 
Our Bible verse for today: “Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.” Ephesians 6:13 (NIV)
 
Our thought for today: “Are you strong enough to stand your ground?”
 
Are you strong enough to stand your ground? Don’t be too quick to answer that. Standing your ground in the face of intense pressure from the culture is not an easy thing to do. Sometimes it’s even costly. You might be “cancelled;” might be ridiculed; you might be ostracized; you might be trolled, shouted down, beat up, fired, or maybe even arrested. So, are you strong enough to stand your ground when it comes to maintaining and advocating for a Biblical worldview when the culture all around us is becoming increasingly antibiblical. Not just unbiblical, but antibiblical.
 
Sexual ethics is the most obvious case-in-point. God’s model of human sexuality and His standards for acceptable sexual conduct are clearly articulated in the Bible. Those standards have been understood, accepted, and practiced by cultures around the world for thousands of years. The meaning of those standards, as written in the original Biblical languages, have been agreed upon by the best Hebrew and Greek scholars across cultures and generations for thousands of years.
 
But despite that, not only has the non-Christian culture become increasingly antibiblical in terms of sexual ethics and practices, but many Christians have as well. There are many Christians today who, despite what the Bible clearly teaches on this subject, have become sadly progressive in their views on homosexuality, same-sex marriage, gender fluidity, gay clergy, and more. How can that be? How can those Christians read what God clearly has to say on the issue of sexuality and still somehow justify their unbiblical positions? The answer is that they are giving in to the cultural pressure. They are not standing their ground Biblically and so they simply go along in order to get along.
 
A few years ago, I wrote and published a book on this subject. The title is “Getting Along without Going Along: Biblical Sexual Ethics in An Age of Controversy and Conflict.” The object was to equip Christians to live effectively in our very confused, mixed-up, and hostile culture while standing our ground regarding Biblical sexual ethics. It is my contribution to the lifelong learning process that helps to enable Christians to be strong and to take a Biblical stand on the issue of sexual ethics. If you don’t have a copy of that book but would like one, let me know and I will be happy to send you one.
 
Are you strong enough to stand your ground? Often it isn’t easy to do so, but lifelong learning of Biblical truth helps to make us strong.
 
God bless,
Pastor Jim  
 
(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00 – in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville)
 
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6 thoughts on “Are you strong enough to stand your ground?”

    1. Hi Donna. I’m so sorry. Something must have went wrong. I sent you the email the day you gave me your email address and was wondering why I didn’t hear from you with the mailing address. Here’s the email address I sent it to: luckd61@yahoo.com. Is that correct?

      Reply

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