Given the recent uptick accusations that have come our way, there are many exhortations I want to give you. Things like “let your reasonableness be known to all.” “rejoice not when your enemy falls.” “Vengeance belongs to the LORD.” “don’t be a hot head.” So more along those lines will certainly be coming your way. But I want to lead off with this one:
Amid accusations from the enemy, you must keep up the full court press.
You must keep the tempo moving. In the words of the apostle, you must be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord (1 Corinthians 15:58). When the enemy hurls his accusations at one of the saints, one of his strategies is to get the others to flinch. And you must not flinch. He wants you to lay off, and lay low (granted, you may be in a particular season where you need to lay low in a certain regard, if that’s you then make sure you do that). But, on the whole, you must understand that the false accusations come when you have started to do something that the enemy does not like. And that is why we rejoice.
This is an exhortation particularly to those of you who might be thinking, “If this keeps up, what are they going to do my son? What are they going to do to my grandchildren?”
This is the kind of thing that a follower of our Lord might have thought when the rumors had boiled over and out of Jerusalem that the power brokers in town were planning to kill Jesus. And imagine sitting there with our Lord only a couple days journey from that Jerusalem, and he tells you by the fire, “When I get there, I will enter the temple with a whip and turn over their tables.” “Oh,” you say, “so you will be turning the dial up, not down. I see.”
Note well, we can turn the dial up. Because the dial we are turning up is righteousness and good works. We can keep the pressure on. Because the work we are doing is the work of kindness, godliness, indeed works of love, the work of the Lord. So don’t get in the flesh. And if the flesh is the only thing that can motivate you then you must remain unmotivated and repent.
But, don’t for a minute slow down or hesitate in your public Christian living and your bold witness, and your work of dominion. You can’t work at the plow while looking back, and our Lord has told us that such a man is not fit for the kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).
Jared Longshore – February 18, 2024
