STAND FIRM
1 Corinthians 15:58
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
When I was a kid, my parents went off to Hawaii a few different winters to visit my aunt and uncle. Each year my dad, uncle and others would go to "the big island" to hunt sheep, hogs, goats etc. One year a rancher asked if they would hunt a huge bull that had gone wild and broken through fences a few years earlier and was now coming down out of the mountains, tearing fences up and bringing cows back up into the mountains again. The rancher wanted him dead.
My dad and the others went up on the mountain in search of the herd, and specifically the wild bull. They found him and he charged. My dad stood his ground and dropped the bull, which landed just a few feet in front of him. If dad hadn't stood his ground, that bull would have continued his reign of terror on that ranch.
In chapter 15 of 1st Corinthians, the apostle Paul has written about Christ's resurrection and then the future resurrection of those that have a trust in Christ.... At the very end of the chapter comes these two verses.
Here we are told to "stand firm" and to "give ourselves fully to the work of God"
Standing firm isn't easy. Satan is always trying to move us away from God's work and we are easily moved. Our lives here on earth are so short. What is more important than what we do for God? Don't be discouraged or pushed off course. Paul's directives to us here come with a promise, " because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain."
Charles Stanley said this
"Disappointment is inevitable. But to become discouraged, there's a choice I make. God would never discourage me. He would always point me to himself to trust him. Therefore, my discouragement is from Satan. As you go through the emotions that we have, hostility is not from God, bitterness, unforgiveness, all of these are attacks from Satan."
Stand firm and give yourselves fully.
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