The words of the song were suggested by the famous words of the ruler named Pilate who held Jesus’ life in his hands. He asked, “What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ?” (Matthew 27:22).

What will you do with Jesus?

Believe in Him

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31). “These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God” (1 John 5:13).

Confess Him

“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God” (1 John 4:15).

Obey Him

“And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight” (1 John 3:22). “Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city [Heaven]” (Revelation 22:14).

Follow Him

“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps” (1 Peter 2:21). Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:27, 28).

Such experiences remind me of the promises found in Romans 5. “But we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience . . . because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.”

The tribulations described here no doubt refer mainly to trials we experience in taking our stand for the Gospel. These may take many forms, including persecution, hardship, losses, and trials that test our faith. Material losses can even be tribulations when the enemy of our souls is testing us. And sometimes the Lord tests our faithfulness. We recall the testings of Job as God permitted Satan to trouble Job.

One morning in my private devotions I was considering the above passage from Romans 5, especially the phrase “but we glory in tribulations.” I found myself trying to explain away the very obvious meaning of glorying in tribulations. Certainly God does not intend for us to boast or rejoice in tribulations or trials, does He? But “boast” and “rejoice” are the exact meanings of glory.

I thought of the admonition in 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” So we should give thanks through every circumstance, but not necessarily for the circumstance itself?

I do not believe that the Lord intends for us to proclaim, “Praise the Lord; I broke my leg” after a jolting fall. But glorying in tribulation still means that I should be thankful that the Lord has allowed me to be tested-yes, thankful for the experience itself!

Why should we be thankful for the experience of tribulation itself? Romans 5 says the experience, properly faced, brings patience followed by experience and hope. Certainly patience, experience, and hope are great blessings. We would not want our lives to be without them, would we?

As I meditated on this new thought, another Scripture came to my mind. “He that glorieth, let

him glory in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31). Now that sets our glorying in true perspective. Glorying in tribulation is not God-honoring unless we glory in the Lord. The Stoic, for example, glories in tribulation also. But he glories in his own ability to “grin and bear it.” The Christian glories in that the Lord can bring blessings from every tribulation. Any benefit from the experience can be credited to the Lord.

As I meditated further on glorying in tribulations, I began to think of various experiences in my own life that could be labeled as tribulations. Why had I not received more blessings from them? Why had they draggged me down instead of working patience, experience, and hope? Was it because I had not gloried in tribulations, rejoicing that the Lord was working in my life? After all, God’s Word says, “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth” (Hebrews 12:5, 6).

If I could, through the eyes of faith, see God’s eternal perspective in my tribulations, then I could truly glory in them and glorify God in enduring them.

The Lord flooded my soul with Holy Spirit enlightenment concerning the purpose of trials and temptations as I considered Romans 5:1-5. But that still does not seem to take care of the pain and hurt that invariably come with tribulations. Am I still not trusting the Lord sufficiently? Am I not supposed to feel the pain? Then I remembered that “no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees” (Hebrews 12:11, 12).

Further, I remembered that our Lord was “touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” He understands the initial pain and struggle in tribulations. It is then that He expects me to look up to Him. Then His grace is sufficient. Then He will work a miracle of patience in my life. Faith and trust in Him is indeed the victory that overcomes the world!

Roger Berry

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Corinthians 3:16, 17).

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers . . . shall inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10).

Packaging is a huge industry. Companies spend billions every year on crates, cardboard boxes, packing materials, shrink-wrap, and strapping tape. Yet packaging is also a lowly industry, for packing things in crates and cartons is not an end in itself. Packaging is devoted to delivering valuable goods to their destination, free from damage or from spoiling. Much of it is discarded after a single use. With few exceptions, packaging is not for show. Gift wrapping is a paradox of sorts. It has no power over value within. The removal of the wrap may bring gladness-or even keen disappointment.

Packaging is not new. Adam and Eve tried it after sinning and failed. They tried to make clothing (packaging) out of fig leaves. God had to provide adequate covering. This “packaging” in the area of dress still has lowly lessons for Christians. We need to receive these lessons in a humble, teachable spirit. But this is also the very realm in which the Spirit of God ministers, to magnify and to preserve the great treasure of godly character and purity of heart. The only claim of the Christian to being the temple of God is to have a new birth experience and obedience to God.

The packaging must be sufficient to “keep” believers in a world at enmity with God, a world boldly sold out to all kinds of evil and deviant behavior. Christian “packaging” must preserve the godly values we pursue, what we do for entertainment, the music we listen to, and the very way we dress (a high calling in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, where we are called to shine as lights in the world).

The very scarcity of teaching and writing on outward standards of behavior is evidence that many churches are blind to the negative impact of voluntary exposure to the works of darkness. As a result, the Christian community loses the dynamic of the Spirit-filled life and victorious living. Spiritual fruit decays as the church neglects defining sanctifying limits for Christian living. When believers, parents, and churches default on this, their responsibility simply becomes nobody’s business how sensually or lavishly people may dress. The church should be a conscience to society. For many growing up in the church, the damage and loss is permanent.

Many Christian authors’ personal appearance on glossy jackets in Christian bookstores embody the popular embrace of a popular book entitled Your Best Life Now. The Tele-evangelistic community has also given us an eyeful of examples, not only with lavish and even seductive wardrobes, but numerous other lavish outlays. Thus even writers and leaders shamelessly mimic the gaudy gift wrap and packaging of the ungodly-often with the same excesses-and with the same ungodly results. Clothing without regard for godliness and modesty can only grieve the Spirit of God into retreat.

Consider for a moment the concern among evangelicals to stem the tide of immorality among young people with virginity vows and chastity ceremonies. This is no trivial concern. The spiritual life of church and family is nil amidst the moral washout of believers. These provide no temple for God to dwell in. Yet these virginity vows are shown not to be very effective. The promise of the lips requires the backup of packaging. Chastity requires a heart well insulated with an outward appearance and a personal environment deliberately chosen to protect the treasure of the purity principle within. The vow of the lips is no match for sensual appearance, conduct, entertainment, and music.

We may not know the whole of what transpired in the Fall. But we do know that right through our present time and experience female allure readily attracts the male fallen nature. Male affinity to lust shows up on workplace calenders and in every kind of product advertising imaginable. In our culture this is portrayed as “normal.” In fact, these men are proud of their unrestrained baser instincts. But this comes at the expense of marriage, of family, and of one’s own soul.

Satan would clothe every attractive woman in “gift wrap,” a sensual goddess, with the singular goal of leading men like oxen to slaughter. Ultimately, the house of the sensuous woman is the doorway to hell. Froward women are using nudity to turn the men of our nation into slaves to their passions.

God’s provision of modest clothing was and is an act of mercy, closely entwined with the blood of animal sacrifice. The image of God in humanity requires the preservation of Biblical morality. The pure in heart who will see God will gladly subject outward personal choices to the inward goal of receiving the grace of God. Whatever gets in the way-from entertainment, to music, to wrong influence from friends, to improper clothing-must go. There is no keeping the heart with all diligence, apart from taking available outward measures.

Proper clothing is beneficial not only for believers. U.S.A. Today did a before and after report on the effects of school uniforms in the Long Beach CA school system in the early ’90s. They rated ten categories of problems. Every category showed marked improvement-after uniforms. Vandalism showed the least improvement – down 18% – sexual offenses the most – down 74%. This is not claiming that decent clothing has power to change the heart; rather, that indecent clothing incites the evil tendencies of the heart.

The dwelling of God is in two places. First is the high and lofty place above the heavens which is His throne (Isaiah 57:15). The second is in with the humble and contrite heart on earth. He utterly rejects the proud of heart with their outward trappings. This is the day to start applying these principles, beginning with your wardrobe. For you, Christian, yet unprepared to follow such an order, the question is actually- What makes you think you are following Christ at all? Jesus warns us that it were better even to sacrifice an eye or a hand, than to have two eyes and two hands, and to be cast into hell. Your future good and eternal abode are surely worth it.

Lester Troyer

They Were Well Fortified

Most castles either were built on a hill or were surrounded by a moat, a body of water similar to a canal. You needed to cross a bridge to get to the castle.

For our homes to be functional and successful, they too need to be fortified with love.

Not just any love will do. It must be Jesus’ kind of love-the kind that gives and sacrifices and suffers without complaining and feeling sorry for oneself. (John 13:34).

There are many enemies threatening our homes in an effort to destroy them. Selfishness, ill will, and hatred are the worst. When Jesus’ kind of love pervades the home atmosphere these enemies are held outside at a safe distance. The moat that surrounds our house is God’s Word, the Bible. The drawbridge is God’s truth.

How is it in your home? What fortifications do you have? We live in modern times. The TV, radio, and Internet can all bypass the drawbridge. They become potential pipelines in bringing evil into our homes. They can subtly detract from our experiencing true love, contentment, and peace, with counterfeit sensuality, free love (it’s not free), hatred, and murder.

The number of dysfunctional homes is multiplying in America. Marriage vows are broken, commitments fail, paternal love is cold, and domestic violence of shocking proportions stings our ears. The home castle that once was invincible now lies in ruin. You ask why?

We have forgot God, truth, and righteousness. The words of the Prophet Isaiah fit our generation: “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left” (Isaiah 24:5, 6).

But there is hope. “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13). Our God is ever ready to forgive and come to our aid and help us to be fortified with solid principles of truth. Read Jeremiah 29:11, 12. He will help us rebuild the castle and take control.

There Was an Order of Command

Every castle was ruled by a duke or an earl or the King himself. There were guards who patrolled the premise and kept a watchful eye on all the coming and going. Every occupant worked for the protection and safety of the gate.

Our homes need fathers who are responsible, who are actively providing leadership-fathers who care for the family are safety conscious. They don’t let their children play with knives, guns, or gasoline. They won’t expose their children to X-rated movies and videos. Free access to the Internet will be forbidden.

Successful leadership gives constructive teaching and discipline. It teaches cause and consequence. It shows the reward of diligence, honesty, trustworthiness, courtesy, and academic perseverance. Good leadership also prioritizes on relationships. The Scripture command for husbands to love their wives (Ephesians 5:25) and nurture their children (Ephesians 6:14) establishes a precedent of goodwill in the home. The enemy-partiality, favoritism, evil surmising, and imaginations-is routed when love, goodwill, and fairness fragrance the home atmosphere.

The husband who guards the home castle recognizes the contributing role of his wife. Her intuitive wisdom is sought and considered in all the major decisions. She is given freedom to exercise her feminine role in homemaking and social graces that give sparkle to life. The husband and wife who team together will win the conquest.

Art

The few castles I was in all had their art rooms. These were ancient paintings and sculptures of renowned historical events. There were scenes of beautiful landscapes, decorated with gorgeous sunrises and sunsets.

Every home castle needs its art. Primarily these are the children who grace the home. They are not brats and unwanted interferences. They are the welcome gems, jewels, and stars that adorn the crown of parenthood.

This is true only to the extent we embrace the Judeo-Christian teaching of one man, one woman joined together in holy matrimony. Psalms 127 and 128 describe the beauty of this scenario. Consider verse three of Psalm 128: “Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides of thine house: thy children like olive plants round about thy table.” Isn’t that beautiful!

Contributing to this scene of beauty is order-a scheduled rising time, bedtime, and mealtimes. The family lives and functions together. They communicate. They share their plans, their experiences (both the good and the embarrassing ones). They learn from their own and each other’s mistakes. They develop and grow up together.

Dear reader, make your home a castle even if it is just a meager hut. Fortify it with truth and love! Command it with diligence and affection. Beautify it with obedient children. Heaven will tell the rest of the story!

by J Martin

I saw the bundle of faults and fears
I ought to lay on the shelf;
I had given a little bit to God,
That I hadn’t given myself.

I came from seeing myself,
With my mind made up to be
The sort of person that Christ can use,
With a heart He may always see.

Author Unknown