I recently had
a dream about a woman who was willing to go the extra mile for a desolate soul,
but in so doing, she compromised her purity.
It was such an odd dream and I was a bit puzzled by it. The second part of the dream was this woman
trying to recover her reputation by letting the person know that these were not
her “normal” actions; what she did, she
did out of pity for this person. After
much prayer, I felt like God began to give me some revelation about what this
dream might mean.
I felt like the woman symbolized the bride of
Christ and the desolate person represented the world. Is it possible that we as
Christians could compromise the gospel because we fear being offensive? Do we sometimes make the wrong choices out of
sympathy for non-believers, therefore compromising our beliefs, values, and our
rewards that come through obedience?
Just like Christ, we are called to preach good tidings, to love on the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the bound,” (Is. 61:1). So how do we walk this calling out without
compromising the gospel? I believe that one principal we must embrace
is a fierce loyalty to the gospel.
The definition
of FIERCE means: 1) having or displaying an intense or ferocious
aggressiveness. 2) (of a feeling, emotion,
or action) showing a heartfelt and powerful intensity” (google.com)
Just about
every reference in the Bible about the word fierce,
deals with anger (God’s usually). So,
does that mean we are supposed to be an angry folk walking around with scowls
on our faces? No, of course not!
However, being
faithful Believers means we must be loyal to the gospel. Being fierce, means we have to actively
defend the truth and refuse compromise.
We must be aggressive about presenting our lives as pictures of the gospel,
but we must also passionately speak the truth.
Still, there is a right and wrong way in confronting sin. We confront in love: “love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked,
thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in
the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all
things, endures all things.” (1 Cor. 13: 5-7, NKJV)
I mentioned in
church a few weeks ago my affinity for acronyms. I am presenting one based on the word
FAITHFUL. I imagine some of you could
come up with other acronyms that are just as creative. In fact, I encourage, no, I urge you for the
sake of conversation, to share your acronyms about the characteristics of a
faithful believer. Will you take up the
challenge?
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