A Survival Secret

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8

One winter day while a Chilean peasant was tending his cattle along a long, deep gorge in a remote area of the Andes, he saw two gaunt, bearded figures across the chasm. Thinking they were terrorists, he ran and hid. The next day he returned and saw they were still there. He quickly gathered a pencil, some paper, and a stone, wrapped them in a handkerchief, and heaved them across to the strangers.

When the package came back, thirteen hand-scribbled words said it all: “We came from a plane that fell in the mountains. We are Uruguayan.”

Out of forty-five members of an amateur rugby team, sixteen had survived an indescribable ten-week ordeal. They did so because they were willing to do the unthinkable. They committed cannibalism, eating from the dead bodies of their companions. Critics came out of the woodwork, especially from their church. But the fact is, because they were willing to take such drastic measures, sixteen survived.

If you and I hope to survive this transition into the twenty-first century, it will require some drastic measures on our part, too. It will require a willingness to change.

To describe our times as intense is to state the obvious. And to complicate matters, the intensity is on the increase. We thought times were wicked when we were growing up, but compared to today, the situation forty or fifty years ago seems idyllic.

While struggling with all that recently, I found encouragement from a statement in Paul’s final letter: “Nevertheless, the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, ‘The Lord knows those who are His,’ and, ‘Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness'” (2 Tim. 2:19).

Isn’t that great! The foundations God has laid won’t be destroyed. No matter how bad it gets, no matter how intense the wickedness, God’s standard is not subject to change.

So, then, where do all these drastic changes take place? Within you and me, of course! Remember, that last part of 2 Timothy 2:19 is a command. It calls for obedience. He is telling us to make whatever changes are necessary so that we might “abstain from wickedness.” Yes, abstain.

Surviving times as intense as ours will not occur easily or automatically. Furthermore, it is not something we do corporately or, for that matter, publicly. It’s an “inside job,” and it calls for increased discipline in the private realms of our lives. It’s a survival secret being overlooked by many.

Whatever changes you need to make, start today. Survival requires change. Sometimes, drastic change.

Drastic times call for drastic measures.

Surviving times as intense as ours calls for increased discipline in the private realms of our lives.

Charles R. Swindoll Tweet This

Taken from Day by Day with Charles Swindoll by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2000 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of Thomas Nelson. www.thomasnelson.com

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Pastor Charles R. Swindoll has devoted his life to the accurate, practical teaching and application of God’s Word. He is the founding pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, but Chuck’s listening audience extends far beyond a local church body. As a leading programme in Christian broadcasting since 1979, Insight for Living airs around the world. Chuck’s leadership as president and now chancellor emeritus at Dallas Theological Seminary has helped prepare and equip a new generation of men and women for ministry.

పాస్టర్ చార్లెస్ ఆర్. స్విండాల్ దేవుని వాక్యాన్ని నిర్దిష్టంగా, ఆచరణాత్మకంగా బోధించడానికి మరియు అన్వయించడానికి తన జీవితాన్ని అంకితం చేశారు. ఆయన టెక్సాస్‌లోని ఫ్రిస్కోలోని స్టోన్‌బ్రయర్ కమ్యూనిటీ చర్చి వ్యవస్థాపక కాపరియై ఉన్నారు, అయితే చక్ యొక్క శ్రోతలు స్థానిక సంఘ పరిధి దాటి వ్యాపించి ఉన్నారు. 1979 నుండి క్రైస్తవ ప్రసరణలో ప్రముఖ కార్యక్రమంగా, ఇన్‌సైట్ ఫర్ లివింగ్ ప్రపంచవ్యాప్తంగా ప్రసారమవుతోంది. డల్లాస్ థియోలాజికల్ సెమినరీకి ప్రెసిడెంటుగా, అలాగే ఇప్పుడు ఛాన్సిలర్ ఎమెరిటస్‌గా చక్ యొక్క నాయకత్వం క్రొత్త తరం స్త్రీపురుషులను పరిచర్య కొరకు సిద్ధపరచడంలో సహాయపడింది.