But he who endures to the end shall be saved!
Greetings to you, dear friends! I welcome you to “Daily Word for Spiritual Edification”! I pray that God’s power would follow you this day and give you victory in all the areas of your life.
According to Apostle Paul’s admonition to Timothy, in order to lay hold of eternal life we need to be aware of three important moments: the necessity to flee sin, to pursue righteousness and fight the good fight of faith.
«But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses» (1 Timothy, 6:11-12).
We also saw that Jesus Christ has warned about the different forms of lawlessness that would abound in the last days and cause the love of many to grow cold. But Jesus also says that we have to endure till the end in order to lay hold on eternal life.
«And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved» (Mathew, 24:12-13).
The question arises why so many people start their walk with God but turn aside in one of the crossroads of life; they turn back to where they came from. It reminds me the story of Jewish people. For a long time this nation was in slavery in Egypt. They were burdened by hard work with no payment. The nation of Israel cried out to God, and God delivered them and brought them out of Egypt. They had to walk to the Promised Land. Every day they were getting closer to it. There were difficulties on their way; they had to flee some wrong things, avoid making wrong decisions, wrong relationships; they had to overcome grumbling and complaining. Israelites had to obtain more and more knowledge of God while heading towards their Promised Land. That is precisely what laying hold on eternal life means: we have been saved; we have been brought out of our spiritual Egypt and now we are on our way to eternal life. During the trip we have overcome certain things. We have to overcome pride and old ways of thinking. We must let our knowledge of God change us and bring us closer to the image God wants to transform us into, which is the image of Jesus Christ. We must fight numerous enemies. But we know that Hebrews did not have the patience for it.
«Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, „Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him”» (Exodus, 32:1).
We see that people’s patience ended very soon; they wanted to see “some action”. And since nothing was happening, they decided that God Who had brought them out of Egypt was not able to take them further. So they decided to make themselves some gods. So many times today people in different types of difficult situations and unfortunate circumstances cry out to God, but do not receive a speedy answer. When that happens, they forsake the way to eternal life.
Christian life is a fight. Apostle Paul says to Timothy that he should flee sin. Furthermore, he should pursue righteousness and holy life. And that is not all: he also should fight. The nation of Israel expected Moses’ return from the mountain; they were not able to fight and their actions were foolish. Fortunately, God in His great love showed mercy to some of them. But the majority of those who were brought out of Egypt did not enter the Promised Land. God wants us to endure to the end and to finish our race to eternal life that we have begun.
I pray that every one of you that have accepted Jesus Christ into your heart would endure to the end. Jesus said,
«But he who endures to the end shall be saved» (Mathew, 24:13).
God’s salvation will take root in your life as you flee sin, pursue holy living and fight the good fight of faith on your way to eternal life.
Be blessed! We will continue tomorrow!
Pastor Rufus Ajiboye
