MEASURE YOUR STAND< ?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

Liberty is a privilege and God is not a slave master, but a saving master. To do what you want to do is good as long as it does not violate the commands of God. Whenever your doing violates the command of God you have gone on risky ground. As much as He is a longsuffering God, He will not overlook sin. On the way to the Promised Land, in the wilderness journey all the children of Israel passed through the Red Sea, all of the children of Israel were able to drink from the rock and they all journeyed under the cloud of protection during the day and light from fire to give direction during the night. All of them both sinners and non-sinners were exposed to what the Lord was doing to keep them on a good footing in their journey. However, when it was time, in the eyes of God, to separate those that were obeying His commands, from those that were not, He did without any struggle. Until the time of separation they all took part in the blessings of God and nothing separated them but it was sin that made the difference. Jesus said in Matthew 13:30, ÒLet both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, ÒFirst gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.Ó Growing is not the measure of getting to the expected end. They were all growing together in the wilderness, but not all made it to the expected end. Just like Jesus said, the apostle Paul also said,  ÒLet him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.Ó (1 Corinthians 10:12), So many think they are standing, when they are in the midst of a standing congregation, but not all are actually standing. When you are in the right footing with the commands of God you have taken a righteous stand and it might be possible to think of standing. However, if you are in the wrong footing in the commands of God you might want to seek for His mercy not to fall into His judgment. It does not matter if there is a thought of standing or if there is an assumption of standing or if you have been considered as not standing. It matters and it also counts to know that God is the only judge and no man is in the position to judge. Each and every man knows how he stands and it can be measured in the word of God. Paul pointed out in 1 Corinthians 10:6-10 the kind of things that counted against the children of Israel in the wilderness journey as: lust, idolatry, sexual immorality, tempting the Lord, and complaining. Against all of this, every believer can measure their stand, to determine the thoughts about how they stand. It is only the mercy of God that can see us through in the journey of life.