April 19, 2004

[Kidan]

Quote[/b] ]Joab had defected to Adonijah, though he had not defected to Absalom
—1 Kings 2:28

Quote[/b] ]Joab withstood the greatest test of his life, remaining absolutely loyal to David by not turning to follow after the fascinating and ambitious Absalom. Yet toward the end of his life he turned to follow after the weak and cowardly Adonijah. Always remain alert to the fact that where one person has turned back is exactly where anyone may be tempted to turn back (see 1 Corinthians 10:11-13 ). You may have just victoriously gone through a great crisis, but now be alert about the things that may appear to be the least likely to tempt you. Beware of thinking that the areas of your life where you have experienced victory in the past are now the least likely to cause you to stumble and fall.

We are apt to say, "It is not at all likely that having been through the greatest crisis of my life I would now turn back to the things of the world." Do not try to predict where the temptation will come; it is the least likely thing that is the real danger. It is in the aftermath of a great spiritual event that the least likely things begin to have an effect. They may not be forceful and dominant, but they are there. And if you are not careful to be forewarned, they will trip you. You have remained true to God under great and intense trials?now beware of the undercurrent. Do not be abnormally examining your inner self, looking forward with dread, but stay alert; keep your memory sharp before God. Unguarded strength is actually a double weakness, because that is where the least likely temptations will be effective in sapping strength. The Bible characters stumbled over their strong points, never their weak ones.

". . . kept by the power of God . . ."?that is the only safety. ( 1 Peter 1:5 ).

 

[Kidan]

This is an very interesting topic today.  Especially since I have just returned from a Youth Conference where I took my teens.  My (and my fellow Youth Workers') teens always return from this Council fired-up and ready to fight for Christ!  You get mass rededications to Christ.  Mass admittance of frailities. Numerous kids saying they feel called to become ordained ministers within my church.

Yet it won't stay that way for a majority of these children.  They'll get home, go back to their usual friends and place their Christianity on the shelf until Youth Council's come around next year.  This is not to say that they're meaning to do so, but that is what will happen.  Whether that is the youth, or the youth worker's fault is really up to debate but is not the point here.

My point is on the way home I was talking to one of my kids and my quiet probing lead to these concerns.  He was worried that he would lose this fire that he felt now.  This event is a mountain-top experience we've discussed earlier, where they fall into trouble is the valleys.  Of course the solution to keeping that fire is that you MUST keep it fed.  You do that by reading the Bible and praying.

The way I ultimately explained it is thus:<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">Take your best friend.  Now, imagine you don't talk to her for a full year.  How would that affect your friendship?  It's the same with Christ.  Christianity is a relationship with our Saviour.  We can't talk to Him merely once a year and expect a strong stable loving relationship from that!  No, we have to work on it daily, the same as any other relationship.
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So today, as you walk along, happy that you are on a mountaintop, or deep in the shadows of the valley, think about this, how secure is your relationship?  Does it have the strength of daily communication?  Or is it merely gathering dust in the corner of your heart.