“Therefore, my brothers dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and my crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.”
“Therefore” means that something important preceded this verse. Paul is referring to Philippians 3:20-21: “For our conversation (conduct, citizenship) is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21. Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself.” If we are to “stand fast,” or as the NIV translates it, “stand firm,” what we stand for should be worth it. I think that Philippians 3:20-21 gives us ample reason to take our stand in Christ. The notes on this verse in The Life Application Bible gave us the answer on what it means to “stand fast in the Lord.” “The way to stand fast/firm is to keep our eyes on Christ, to remember that this world is not our home, and to focus on the fact that Christ will bring everything under His control. Standing firm means steadfastly resisting the negative influences of temptation, false teaching, or persecution. It requires perseverance when we are challenged or opposed.” (page 2001) I am indebted to this note for the following points. We are reminded to “stand fast in the Lord.” The footnote above told us to “keep our eyes on Christ.” When we take our eyes off of Christ, we put them one something, or someone, else. Whatever or whoever it is that has stolen our focus, it will definitely not help us in our Christian living. When I think of this, I think of Simon Peter walking on the water. (Matthew 14:22-33) Peter asked Jesus to let him walk on the water, and as long as Peter looked at Jesus he did fine. When he put his eyes on the wind and waves he began to sink. In other words, Peter did not stand fast because he took his eyes off of Jesus. When we let anything else take over our vision, our minds and our hearts, we waver and fall short of the Christian service that we can offer. We need to be careful about letting the problems of this life call our attention to them instead of Jesus. Satan surely wants us to do this. We are reminded that “this world is not our home.” It is a fact that we are in the world but not of the world. We can’t help but live in the society to which we were born, but we should not let that society keep us from standing fast. When we get too enamored with the things of the world, we get side-tracked from our commitment to Jesus Christ. We have to be involved in the workaday world, but we cannot stand fast if we forget that this world is not our home. We are reminded that “Christ will bring everything under His control.” We will stand fast if we remember that this world is passing away. It doesn’t seem like it is, but it is. We need to remember what John wrote in his first epistle verse 17: “And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides forever.”Everything that is of this world is temporary. It seems today that Satan is in control, and he is in control of the world system, but he is not in control of Christ and we belong to Christ. We need to remember that when we are tempted to move away from our commitment to Christ. We are reminded that: “Standing firm means steadfastly resisting the negative influences of temptation, false teaching, or persecution.” We have to remember that the world system hated Christ, and He said that they would hate us as well. We should stand fast even when it is unpopular to do so, and it is getting increasingly so today. Take Paul’s advice here and “stand fast in the Lord.” Bro. Joe
7 Comments
olosagbe Joshua
2/7/2017 08:44:44 am
This is practicall true. Thank you Bro. Joe for this helpfull piece.
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olosagbe joshua
3/9/2017 04:47:37 am
when we're tempted to turn from the track, what should be our first impulse action?
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Yolanda Davis
8/25/2017 10:29:50 am
This has encouraged me so much. It is so true. Thank you for allowing God to use you in this
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Esther
8/31/2017 01:55:00 pm
I now understand this
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Rs
9/25/2017 10:51:13 am
Great
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Nene
10/16/2017 08:02:49 pm
As I set and talked to God and listening to the words that responded back to me. Researching the word stead fast and your website popped up. Reading your words have confirmed everything I was told. Thank you for sharing your teachings
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