“Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love.”
1 Corinthians 16:13-14 NLT
We’re considering two short verses containing three “Be’s”, a “stand”, and a “Do”, all action words requiring effort to apply in a world where passivity seems to be the norm. Although these verses were written to the early Christians in Corinth, they equally apply to Christians today. Then, as now, society was largely biased against believers in God, choosing instead to pursue gods of the people’s own making. And at the root of the lives of unbelievers was the propensity to pursue sinful activities that titillated their hedonistic tendencies. Such a root often sparked a “what’s in it for me” response when situations arose that required a more positive solution. So Paul, seeing the dangers, wrote about the care a believer should take to avoid being sucked into behaviour that was sinful and against God’s expectations for His children.
Just thinking about Paul’s exhortation to “Be strong” perhaps reminds us of something that Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it”. In John Bunyan’s “The Pilgrim’s Progress”, the Narrow Gate, which he also called the Wicket Gate, is the crucial first entrance to the King’s Highway. It symbolises the deliberate choice to begin the Christian life by turning to Christ for salvation from the City of Destruction, representing repentance, faith, and leaving the world behind to find relief from sin’s burden. I always imagine a road on which many people are walking. They don’t know it is going to lead to an eternal death, but it seems a relatively easy path to take, and, anyway, everyone is going that way, so it can’t be all bad, can it? But then, covered in weeds and almost hidden, is a small gate made of wood and of the type found in many a garden. Perhaps curiosity takes a person through the gate onto the way that leads to God. But the path is heavy going, and many obstacles are in the way, and when it becomes too hard, a glance to the rear shows that the broad road is only a step away. In such circumstances, Paul encouraged those early Christians, and by implication, we Christians today, to “Be strong” and keep going on the “narrow road” because, whether we like it or not, there are times when we need to be strong.
Perhaps we have woken up this morning feeling a bit lazy, but because it is a Sunday, we decide to give church a miss. Just once won’t really matter, will it? And we snuggle down under the duvet to enjoy another hour or two of sleep. Or perhaps someone in the office where we work is organising a night out to somewhere we would feel uncomfortable being in, but we don’t want to upset anyone, do we? Perhaps we decide to join in, with the thought that maybe we could leave a bit earlier. It is on occasions such as these that we need to “Be strong”. As many Christians have found out, the Narrow Way and the Broad Way are paths that we cannot walk on at the same time.
Jesus made the choice clear when He was teaching about money and possessions. We read in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money”. We cannot live a worldly life and a Godly life at the same time. Joshua set out the choice that must be made to the Israelites, as we read in Joshua 24:15, “But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord”. Joshua knew all about what making the wrong choice meant.
“But those who trust in the Lord
will find new strength.“
So today, dear fellow pilgrims, what choice are you making? Yes, the battle is hard to fight. Yes, we’re tired, and we think that sometimes it will be so much easier to slip back into our old ways. There was a time when disciples left Jesus because His teachings were too hard for them. John 6:60, 66, “Many of his disciples said, “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” … At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him”. In the next verse we read Jesus’ response, “Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?”” But Peter’s reply was one that has reverberated down the ages ever since; “Simon Peter replied, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God”” (John 6:68-69). That is what being strong means, so we turn to Isaiah 40:29-31, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint”. Can we feel ourselves being lifted up today? With an inner strength, we look forward, not along a path that leads to hell, but one that leads to eternal life.
Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for supporting us in the hard times and encouraging us when we stumble and fall. Thank You too for carrying us when we’re too tired to go on, and helping us to be strong when we need to be. We worship You today. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 