The last man standing

“The last man standing” mentality seems to be something that is drilled into us from a very young age. It draws strength from conforming to a worldly mind-set and then parents gloat about their kid’s achievements. The pressure is brutal! Everyone trying to outdo the other is a heavy burden where only the strong will survive, let alone be the last man standing. If this be our plight, lets us rather channel our energies correctly, not pleasing the world, but our heavenly Father.

We are to be turn from that way of thinking and put on the mind of Christ; here is the instruction…

"And be not conformed to this world." — Rom_12:2

“If a Christian can by possibility be saved while he conforms to this world, at any rate it must be so as by fire. Such a bare salvation is almost as much to be dreaded as desired. Reader, would you wish to leave this world in the darkness of a desponding death bed, and enter heaven as a shipwrecked mariner climbs the rocks of his native country? then be worldly; be mixed up with Mammonites, and refuse to go without the camp bearing Christ's reproach. But would you have a heaven below as well as a heaven above? Would you comprehend with all saints what are the heights and depths, and know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge? Would you receive an abundant entrance into the joy of your Lord? Then come ye out from among them, and be ye separate, and touch not the unclean thing. Would you attain the full assurance of faith? you cannot gain it while you commune with sinners. Would you flame with vehement love? Your love will be damped by the drenchings of godless society. You cannot become a great Christian-you may be a babe in grace, but you never can be a perfect man in Christ Jesus while you yield yourself to the worldly maxims and modes of business of men of the world. It is ill for an heir of heaven to be a great friend with the heirs of hell. It has a bad look when a courtier is too intimate with his king's enemies. Even small inconsistencies are dangerous. Little thorns make great blisters, little moths destroy fine garments, and little frivolities and little rogueries will rob religion of a thousand joys. O professor, too little separated from sinners, you know not what you lose by your conformity to the world. It cuts the tendons of your strength, and makes you creep where you ought to run. Then, for your own comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Here Spurgeon gives us great insight to what hat we should be wearing as we conform to the image of Christ, a help to understand the dangers when turning a blind eye to our own lusts. Wanting the certainty of heaven with all its glory and then allowing every carnal whim to be satisfied. The cry went out many years ago and I now echo it; “choose this day whom you will serve” and this is an examination we are to have alone and in our closet. The beauty of Christ’s sacrifice affords the Christian a personal relationship with their God. With constant dialogue throughout the day. It’s not as if we have a set time when we commune with our God, the way religion has impressed its ideology upon the world. Big majestic buildings with their priests as the answer. NO! We have the ability to cry “ABBA FATHER”, Jesus Christ my Lord has accomplished that on my behalf. Aww, how I love Him. And yet my actions tell the story, we cannot escape that truth. The Lord Jesus was very clear with his instruction; “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Luke 16:13)

Although this analogy is very specific as it highlights money and everything that that entails, it’s the principle I wish to drive home, which is Spurgeons point; “Then, for your own comfort's sake, and for the sake of your growth in grace, if you be a Christian, be a Christian, and be a marked and distinct one.”

Signing off

Tyrone