Christian Living

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Larry Lilly's Letter Thursday January 5, 2005

I received an interesting note from one of my regular critics. I am doing something with this particular criticism that usually drives critics the rest of the way crazy. My constant critic suggested that I should put more emphasis on 'Men of God standing firm in these times of compromise.' Sounds like a good idea to me, at least at first thought.

And then. And then, when you think about it, true, spirit controlled, living men of God are standing firm and will continue to do so. May I further say that false, self or Satan controlled men are standing firm to what they believe however utterly false their system may actually be.

The old axiom is true, "Men act according to what they really believe." At least at that particular moment.

In my opinion, (I had a humble opinion once, when I was young) the attitude demonstrated while standing, may be as important as the act of standing.

The city of Pompeii was destroyed by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 70. A Roman soldier was caught in the flow and 'frozen' standing at his post. He was at his post, but dead. Petrified is the term we use today.

This particular soldier, frozen in time, was going about his business when suddenly his world changed. And he changed along with it and just as suddenly.

The tragedy in this city and this soldier is that ample warning was given of the impending eruption and no one paid much attention, they figured the volcano would in fact erupt, but in a few days. When it did explode and red hot lava ran over the sides of the crater, it moved much faster than anyone ever dreamed and we read about their erroneous thinking and failure to escape in our history and travel books.

How many are the children of God, standing as frozen, dead, in position, but as lifeless as the Roman soldier, long ago petrified? They are 'standing' but lifeless as they mechanically go through the motions, with little or no zeal, no fervency and no vision other than to be in place.

We are warned to beware of 'Little foxes' of 'lukewarmness' and even of 'embracing evil,' yet many who think they are standing are in reality deader than a door nail on the inside.

How about you? Are you standing? Are you standing for Christ with His spirit flowing through you and imparting the zest for His concerns into your heart? Standing and in love with Him? Or are you standing in position and place and frozen, dead on the inside?

Larry Lilly Copyright © 2006 Use with credit.

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