To stand.

This morning, during my quiet time, randomly Harold Camping came to mind.  I thought, "Lord, didn't you say?..." I opened my Bible and turned right to Matthew 24:36, He says, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angles in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."

Yeah, I thought so.

When lies are all around us, even coming from 'so called Christians' (and who's to say, because H. Camping could have his trust in Christ, although; listening to some of his interviews I fear his theology is way off base and it sure sounds like he is taking advantage of some naive people) What are we to do?

I looked around Chapter 24 of Matthew to see if I could find something, God always reveals His truth when our goal is to know Him more.

Matthew 24:13 says,
"but he who stands firm to the end will be saved."

Stands.   A present tense verb, an action.  And it is repeated throughout Scripture as instruction for God's people.   Stand. Not ' defend,' not 'be on the offense,' not 'be agreeable' but simply to stand.  The American Heritage Dictionary defines stand: To rise to an upright position. To assume or maintain an upright position.  To remain stable, valid, or intact.

Paul loved to remind the early church members to stand.

1 Corinthians 15:1
"Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand."

2 Corinthians 1:21
"Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ  He anointed us"

2 Corinthians 1: 24 (one of my early favorites)
"Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, because it is by faith you stand firm."

Ephesians 6:11
"Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes."

Galatians 5:1
"It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery."

There are actually, many, many more.  If you want to find them, do a word search on biblegateway.com.

Because God is God in the Old Testament as well as the New, He instructed us to stand for Him before Jesus came to earth.

Isaiah 7:9
"If you do not stand firm in your faith, you will not stand at all."

It sounds simple, but it is not.  In most of the passages, the way we stand is described as 'firm' to 'stand firm.'  My natural disposition fights me on this.  Trusting in the gospel, is standing in the knowledge of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

But my natural tendency is to argue and need to be in control, be critical of others and become bitter, think I need to fix others' problems, need to be right, worry, compete with others or compare myself to others, or compromise.

One of the hardest things about being a Christian is just trusting in the power of Christ!  We really have nothing to prove, and that can be hard to remember.  So, I pray that God continues to work in me because even when I stumble and fall, I always want to stand firm with Him.