…But Hold On!

It is great to be alive in these times as a child of God to witness the number of converts recorded and great miracles performed across the globe for the Kingdom of God. It is a great time of seeing the Holy Spirit move in unprecedented waves across the world. All these are to remind us that the coming of the Lord is near and we must prepare as children of God to meet Him. It will simply not do to just be virgins with lamps but we must be wise to make sure we are carrying the extra oil that will last us through the whole length of waiting. So many happenings around the world and in our environment are geared towards making us question our faith and become complacent in our service to the Lord. It is believed that once we declare for Christ we can continue in our former lives as before. All this is to make sure the pews are filled and plenty of money in the coffers. It is not supposed to be so! Inasmuch as the Lord takes no pleasure in the death of a wicked person (Ezekiel 33:10-11), He will not condone nor excuse sin because He is holy and righteous. As children of the Most High, we must match the strategy of the devil by drawing attention to Christ, His suffering and His death – what it means and how we should respond. His life, death on the Cross and resurrection was not only to make us live pleasurable lives but to (most importantly) turn us all from our evil ways (Acts 3:26).

In service to the Lord, in giving and evangelizing, this generation has done well: “I know your works – your love, faithfulness, service and endurance. Your last works are greater than the first” (Revelation 2:19). But to erode this feat, the enemy has been able to engage the governments of nations to endorse evil policies that are set to corrupt the hearts and minds of the people and make them complacent to the things of God. Now, we preach tolerance of things we should not partake in, in order to be politically correct and acceptable to the government and the agents of darkness. Jesus Christ admonishes us to let our yes be yes and our no be no and not maybe. As a result of this compromise, certain sins are creeping into the Church and the Church is turning a blind eye in order not to aggravate or drive the people away. Friends, it is not about multitudes but it is about those that are prepared to go the whole length with Jesus Christ. Remember the case of Israel and the golden calf in the desert also when some of the disciples left the Master, God was set to restart with one and continue with the few. God has called us to love all people but to hate and rebuke the sins. This we must do faithfully in love so as not to pollute the Body. However, the definition of love has been so expanded to mean ‘love the people warts and all’. Sadly, the ‘warts and all’ are polluting the message of Christ and making the people hardened against righteousness: “But I have this against you: you tolerate the woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and teaches and deceives My slaves to commit sexual immorality and to eat meat sacrificed to idols” (Revelation 2:20-21). God knows it will be difficult to do this as we will be termed intolerant and even haters! No wonder Jesus Christ encouraged us against all odds that we may face individually and collectively: “But hold on to what you have until I come” (Revelation 2:25). The bottom-line is to reign with Him. Do hold on my friend! The grace to hold on and not trade your salvation for the pleasures of sin in this world is released to you in Jesus Christ name.