Stand By Faith

Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.  Romans 11:20  NIV

 

The very branches that were supposed to feed directly from God were cut from their privileged place.  Now we have found ourselves this joy of receiving from Christ all the nourishment we need.  But we Christians cannot let our guard down.  We cannot puff ourselves up.  We cannot let pride in and make us forget the grace and the mercy we are receiving.  We are here in our privileged position with God only because of our belief in Jesus.  We stand by faith as long as we know we need our Savior.  Do we know right now how much grace is given to us each day by Christ?

Paul teaches the importance of maintaining a constant sense of fear.  The human heart tends to wander.  We achieve a closeness to God, but our tendency is to get distracted.  In spiritual terms, we become blinded to our connection to God in living experience and we imagine we are strong on our own.  Shall we open our ears?  Shall we let Paul´s warnings scare us into action?  Shall we let ourselves be afraid that something could sneak in and steal our undeserved position in the vine of God?  Shall we focus hard on Him and remember daily to thank Him for giving us this chance to feed from our relationship with Him?  Shall we stand by faith now?

 

Dear Lord,

Let us realize that we stand in You only by the strength we find in You each day!  Let us build up the strength of our faith to gain us an ever more vital walk with You we pray!

Amen