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Hold On!

            In fact, everyone who wants to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, while evildoers and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (II Timothy 3:12-17)

          Yes, tough times happen in the lives of those who wish to live a godly life in Christ Jesus. They get persecuted. Tough times also take happen in the lives of those who do evil and pretend to be someone they aren’t. They go from bad to worse. So, what’s the solution? Hold on. Continue. Fasten your seat belt.

          Specifically, hold on to what you’ve learned from people you trust. Hold on to Scripture. This is an especially important bit of advice in a time in which it seems that people call themselves Christians for any of a number of reasons that have nothing to do with following Christ. Some suggest we should pitch 99% of the Bible into the fire, keeping only those parts that make them feel good. It doesn’t matter to them what Moses, Peter, Paul, John, or even Jesus taught, outside of a few cherry-picked maxims that they’ve twisted. One of the big bits of twisting that has infiltrated much of our society is the idea that Emperor Constantine dreamed up Christianity as we know it today. Another favorite was the one I heard from a girl in college – that King James inserted all of the warnings about witches. It doesn’t matter that much of the Bible as we know it today has been traced back and checked against documents that predate the King James version. 

          One of the bits of advice given by investment counselors is that you buy stocks for the long-term. You don’t buy and sell based on every tiny breeze in the sails of the market. The same is true of your faith. It matters greatly what you believe – but in another sense, it doesn’t matter what you believe. If you change your beliefs based on every tiny breeze in the sails of your life, you’re going to have a storm-tossed life and no real hope for the future. If you hold onto Scripture, you’ll have a storm-tossed life, perhaps, but a strong hope for the future.

         

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