16/05/2012 - A concealed life

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For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3: 3

The benefits for accepting Jesus as one’s Saviour are countless. One of them is being dead to sin, separated from all iniquities and from the rest of the works of flesh. That is something that happens promptly in the lives of all those who receive The Lord. Those who have made up their minds as to serve Christ shall not perish as long as they are persistent on The Way, otherwise, they will be disqualified.

Sin does not have any dominion upon a Christian, though it is customary for those who have not been converted yet. However, some Christians let themselves be carried away by error; by doing so they leave the divine presence, and then they fall straight into the hands of the accuser. Those temptations that pop up on our journey through life are not new; they are rather the old and cunning strategy of the devil to try to drive us away from the divine presence. You only need to pay no notice at all to what the enemy happens to show you, that is how you can keep your stand in Christ.

Those who really belong to God are out of reach of the empire of darkness eternally; yet, you have to be careful not to allow the tempter to dominate you again. Temptations are the only way for us to be driven away from the presence of our Father. Those who pay heed to what is being offered to them by the devil will fall sooner or later. That is precisely the reason why you ought to never give in to any temptation whatsoever, even though it seems to be what you need.

The truth is that the devil cannot find our lives considering that they are fatherly concealed in Christ. The devil sets his traps up around and the unwary – those devoid of wisdom in their hearts – take the bait; and when that happens it turns out that they get entangled in such a strong and malign passion that they even change their way of seeing things – which causes those people who used to preach against sin to adopt it and actually practice it now.

In spite of all that has been done on our behalf, and in spite of our identity in Christ, we are not delivered from temptations. They will be there as long as we live in this world. Do not be appalled if you happen to feel on your journey here the filthiest desires, because they are all part of the devil’s treachery to get you out of your hiding place so he will then be able to dominate you once more. Just say “no” straightaway to everything that is spiritually evil and you will see how valuable being holy in The Lord is.

Do not accept any temptation whatsoever considering that behind it lies the worst slavery. Some Christians are enslaved by the passions of flesh and sinful desires, and that is the reason why they will be excluded from eternal salvation. As you say “yes” to the enemy’s appeals you are saying “no” to the great salvation perpetrated by Christ on the Calvary for you. The bad news is that the error – however small or big – will cause the devil to have access to all your belongings. So, he will then oppress you in such a way that you will be looking forward to leaving this life for the next as soon as possible. Yet, more suffering is what you will be achieving then.

Cast a thought on the following: it is not worth swapping your eternal happiness for a bit of earthly pleasure which will not last eternally.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares