For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous,
and His ears are open unto their prayers:
but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
And who is he that will harm you, if ye be
followers of that which is good? But and if
ye suffer for righteousness' sake, happy are ye:
and be not afraid of their terror, neither be troubled;
but sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that
asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear: having a good conscience; that,
thereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers,
they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.
IPeter 3:12-16
God is invisible and we cannot see Him with our naked eyes but God sees all things and hears all things. This invisibility of God often allows men to think that He does not see them in their sins and in their true worship of Him. We prayer to this invisible God and we do not see any results of our prayers as though He does not hear or will not answer our prayers. It is this lack of an answer according to our hopes and desires as to our prayers that cause many to become lax in their Christian duty and makes an excuse to live as the world culture lives. To not fully believe that God answers prayers or that He is actively involved in our daily affairs that causes men to fear those who are against Christianity, therefore it is easier to live as the world than to live as a Christian. Yet, if you suffer for righteousness you have nothing to fear or be troubled. How can this be? Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts! How do we do this sanctification in our hearts? Paul in writing to Timothy states: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). Peter then gives us the same admonition that we are to ready ALWAYS to give an answer for our faith, our hope to anyone who asks about your Christianity. If they do not see that you are living according to the commandments of God or are doing what anyone knows is wrong then your life is either one of fear or that you are not an Authentic Christian.
When a person accepts the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior they are compelled to abandon their erroneous life and doctrines that they may have been under before they learned the truth of Scripture. A person may have a lifestyle of contemplation, or an active life or a composite of them, but, and this is important, they are to preserve their faith and and to overlook truth and duty. No man or woman has the right to forget by being so immersed in contemplation his or her service due to their neighbor or to be so immersed in contemplation that they actually forget God. This forgetfulness in contemplation is when a person empties their mind as taught be some so-called "Christian" teachers. A person must not become so charmed by this worlds culture, a culture of leisure and not be indolent which means to be slothful as in dress that is proper, etc., or to be inactive, benign, but are to investigate so as to discover the truth of Scripture. To study Scripture and to be active in the exercise of your Authentic Christian Faith is be prepared and to have a good conscience and by this you will be ready to give an answer for your faith, your hope even if others speak evil of you. Others may falsely speak evil of you but when they see your Authentic Christian Faith at work and that you can give an answer to them about your belief in Jesus Christ they will be ashamed: "For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing, than for evil doing" (I Peter 3:17).
If there is no true religion then there will be no true virtues. It may seem that the soul rules the body admirably, and the reason the vices, if the soul and reason do not themselves obey God, as God has commanded them to serve Him, they have no proper authority over the body and the vices. There will be no restraint against those vices, those corrupting influences of this world and there is no reference to God in this matter. The world sees this dichotomy of your faith, as to what you say and what you do and will see this as double-talk, a speaking out of both sides of your mouth.
To study and to be prepared will bring to you a peace that is peculiar to Authentic Christians as you enjoy God by your faith, for you will enjoy eternally with Him, not by His invisibility, but by sight for you will see Jesus Christ who bodily rose from the dead and will be seen by your when He comes to bring you home to and with Him. This peace, even now under some persecution by those who advance evil against you, will become blessedness from the Supreme God, our God Who has saved you. Therefore, take the time to do as commanded: study, be prepared, and then to live according to His commandments.
But the eyes of the LORD are on
those who fear Him, on those
whose hope is in His unfailing love,
to deliver them from death and
keep them alive in famine.
Psalm 33:18
Prepare now to defend your faith
Richard L. Crumb
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