This week, I have decided to post a brief devotional reading from the teaching ministry of A.W. Tozer (1897-1963). Tozer was saved at home in Akron, Ohio at the age of seventeen after having heard a street preacher say, "If you don't know how to be saved, just call on God." He did exactly that.
II Corinthians 5:17 - "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come."
The New Testament is, among other things, a record of the struggle of twice-born men and women to live in a world run by the once-born! That should indicate that we are not being as helpful as we ought to be when we fail to instruct the new Christian, that one who is "a babe in Christ", that our Lord told His earliest disciples, "In the world you will have tribulation" (John 16:33).
The Apostle Paul knew what he was talking about when he told Christian believers, "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" (II Timothy 3:12).
Take the example of a person recently converted to Christ. His inner witness is clear and up to the light he has; he is beginning to live as he believes a Christian should. But this new world is altogether different from the one he has just left. Standards, values, objectives, methods - all are different. Many solid pillars upon which he had previously leaned without question are now seen to be made of chalk and ready to crumble.
There will be tears, but there will be joy and peace with the continuing discovery that in Christ, indeed, old things pass away and all things become new.
Lord, sometimes it's convenient to hide our faith when we are in the company of non-Christians. Help us take a stand for Christ even if we are in the midst of a hostile situation.
