Strong Souls (5)

And when they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting themto continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” Acts 14.21, 22

“And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”John 17.3

Saved and being saved
The first Christians were under no illusion concerning what it means to be saved. They knew they had received the gift of eternal life, but they also understood that this involved more than forgiveness of sin and having a place in heaven beyond this life. They were assured of their salvation, and they worked hard to bring forth the evidence of full faith as they pursued the Kingdom expectations held out to them by the Lord.

Jesus proclaimed forgiveness and eternal life within the framework of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom would come in the present, He explained, as the Spirit of God began to do His powerful transforming work in the souls of those who believe, beginning with repentance. And, like a growing seed or spreading leaven, that Kingdom expands and increases as believers make it their first and overarching priority in life, and as they are strengthened in their souls.

Thus Paul, by encouraging the believers in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch “to continue in the faith”, was reminding them to take up, day by day, those disciplines by which we seek and make progress toward full faith in the Kingdom and salvation of the Lord.

Christians are saved by grace through faith; but they are also being saved, increasingly, as they continue in the faith once for all delivered to the saints. What does this involve?

Disciplines of grace
The life of faith begins in our souls, where, with heart, mind, and conscience, we establish, embrace, and seek a vision of the Kingdom of God, coming in and through us, day by day. But merely having such a vision does not mean we will realize what we desire and value above all else. For that to be the case, for us to increase in the righteousness, peace, and joy of the Kingdom, we will need to get hold of our time and invest it with the disciplines that make Kingdom progress a daily reality.

Paul doubtless urged the believers in Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch to “make the most” of their time for the Kingdom of God (Eph. 5.15-17). The difference between those who, strengthened in their souls, make progress in the Kingdom of God is not in the amount of time available. We all have the same amount of time each day. The difference is not in the amount of time but in the use we make of our time. Moses taught us to pray that God would give us wisdom in the way we plan and use our time (Ps. 90.12). Time is like the talents in Jesus’ parable: God gives it to us, one moment at a time, and He expects us to invest it for His Kingdom and glory (Matt. 25.14-30).

The place to begin in achieving a more disciplined life for the Kingdom of God is in those disciplines that have most direct bearing on the strengthening of our souls. We continue in the Kingdom as we devote ourselves to prayer, worship and singing, reading and studying God’s Word, fasting, and so forth. No Christian can expect to continue in the Kingdom without these disciplines in place, nurturing mind, heart, and conscience toward a fuller realization of the Kingdom of God. When Paul encouraged those believers to continue in the Kingdom of God, he surely meant they should all be careful and responsible in making good use of these disciplines of grace.

Daily disciplines
But beyond these disciplines that shape and nurture our inner lives are the daily disciplines to which we devote our outward lives. We all fill up the time of our lives with things to do – family, work, leisure, and so forth. Each of these – and all the activities of our lives – involves investments of energy and the consumption of time. In that respect all these activities are forms of work. We employ our bodies in words and deeds in order to accomplish or achieve something within the time of our lives. The work we’ve been given to do in this life is greater than the job at which we work, and all the work of our lives requires discipline.

Further, the goal of all our work must be to advance the Kingdom of God and make known the glory of the Lord (Matt. 6.33; 1 Cor. 10.31; Hab. 2.14). After all, if we’re saturating and strengthening our souls – mind, heart, and conscience – for the Kingdom and glory of God, to which we have been called (1 Thess. 2.12), it only makes sense that this is what we should expect to see coming out in our lives. Why would we invest our souls with such a focus if this were not what we hoped to realize in our everyday lives?

Thus all the work we’ve been given to do – making a marriage, raising a family, keeping a home, fulfilling a job, serving in the church, even enjoying our avocations – must be pursued and undertaken in a way that allows our strong souls to bring to greater visibility that Kingdom reality which is fomenting and growing, invisibly, within us day by day.

For reflection
1.  Meditate on Ephesians 5.15-17. What does it mean to “make the most” of the time God gives us?

2.  How can we make sure that our time is not being lost to the powers of wickedness?

3.  In the Kingdom, the work we’ve been given to do is greater than the job at which we work. Explain:

Next steps: Meditate on Psalm 90.12, 16, 17. How might you apply these verses to planning the use of your time each day? Share your thoughts about this with a Christian friend.

T. M. Moore

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This week’s ReVision study is Part 4 of a 10-part series, “Full Faith.” You can download “Strong Souls” as a free PDF, prepared for personal or group study. Simply click here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.