“I Will Keep you!”
“Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.” Revelation 3:10 In Jesus’ day Nazareth was not the best city in the country. There were many wicked people living there and many evil influences at work that gave the place a bad name. In Christ’s day Nazareth was a byword among the people of the land. “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” Nathanael once asked (John 1:46). Amid such surroundings the boy Jesus grew up. He was there as a small boy, as a junior, as a teen-ager, and as a young adult. Remember too that Jesus was a human being just as you and I are. He was tempted just as we are tempted. There may have been gangs of ruffians in His day that challenged Him to join them in their pranks and destruction, and there were surely other influences that threatened His sinlessness. Jesus had to be constantly on the alert “in order to preserve His purity. He was subject to all the conflicts which we have to meet, that He might be an example to us in childhood, youth and manhood.” – The Desire of Ages, p. 71. Jesus is our example. He knows all about our battles with sin and Satan. Because He knows, He can help us better when temptation comes our way. When Satan tries to get us to go places where we can’t take Jesus, when he tempts us to look at or read that which is trashy or impure, when bad company encourages us to do things we know Christians should not do, Jesus has promises to help us. “I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation,” He promises. Sometimes we think we could be good if we were just someone else, or lived in some other place. Somehow we think our place to meet temptations is the hardest. When we think this way let us remember that Jesus grew up in Nazareth – a bad place too. You and I can find help the same place Jesus found it as a junior, as an earliteen-ager, as a young man. Notice too in our text today that, although we must do our part in the struggle against sin, Jesus says, “I will keep you.” He makes Himself responsible. He has never lost a battle. Victory may be ours. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Deaf-Blind Inspirational Life Group" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/DBILG?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
