Hold Fast to What is Good

On Wednesday, March 30th, I was sitting in church listening to Joseph Brown give a message based upon a passage in Romans. These two verses hit me like a ton of bricks. 

 Romans 12:9   Let love be without dissimulation(ie: pretense, concealment). Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. 

  Romans 12:10   Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another; 

We must prefer those that are on the same path. Once we accept Jesus, we need to stop lowering ourselves to the level of the world and those that would see us separated from our walk with God. I fell victim to thinking that I was OK being friends with people that didn't share my beliefs for many years and it cost me so much that I am still trying to recover. 

This isn't to say that we must stop trying to reach out to those that aren't walking with Jesus. The exact opposite is true. We must be continually working to bring people into the flock of believers but the job doesn't stop there. Once they take the first step, we must encourage their walk. We can't drop the ball on newly saved believers. 

I think this is where I have made a change. I was too comfortable with evil in the past. I had fallen into the libertarian trap of personally excusing my own sins and the sins of others. If the sin doesn't harm someone else, then it really didn't matter. That was my rationalization. I was wrong. The sin harmed God and that is immeasurably worse. I had stopped holding fast to what was good.

I never thought this much change could come from signing a commitment card to be a part of a political campaign, but it did. God works in mysterious and wonderful ways. Little did I know that half of the people on stage at the Rally for Religious Liberty that I attended in Des Moines last August would now be my friends. I look back on what happened that day and I can't comprehend it. I do know that I don't want to return to my days of just living for me. When I look back, I was wandering aimlessly and we were all created for so much more than that. Serving others in the name of God, and therefore, leading them to salvation is our ultimate commandment from Jesus.

I want to love my Christian family without pretense. I've seen what happens when people I know love unconditionally and I want to follow that example. God rejoices when we follow him. I also need to continue to abhor that which is evil. There can be no more moral equivalency. Virtue and righteousness are diametrically opposed to sin. If it is biblical, it is worthy. If it isn't, it isn't. That's not to say that we won't fail, because we will. We must always ask for forgiveness and repent. We must realize we will never be perfect while still working towards drawing near to God. 

What has been my biggest help has been realizing that I'm never going to be able to pay back my debt to God, but in His infinite and patient mercy, that debt was paid by Jesus. Jesus was the final Passover Lamb. For this reason, I must tell people about Him and I must help lead others to Him.

To sum this up, we must surround ourselves with other good Christians and use each other to hold one anther accountable. I've found that support system with my church and the best group of people I've ever been around. We must encourage others to do the same. If people think you are a little nutty, so be it. I'd rather be laughed at by those who think this world is all there is while I still strive to live for God. Hold fast to what is good.