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Article Archive |
2007
Safe Haven
by Jim Morris
I once moved to a cheap rent house in a rough part of my home town after my service in the Army. I had no money for the sizable deposits for a better place to live. The rent house had several holes in the walls, carpets torn, cabinets askew, and such, as if someone had been searching for something. Fortunately, the landlord of the damaged rent house allowed me to make repairs to the property in exchange for the deposit. I was thrilled because I love to work on things anyway.
What I did not know was that the rent house had been a drug house. The secret was not revealed to us until someone had broken into it while we were away at work. The door was left open and things were moved around. I was furious! My wife was terrified. Our son was scared to death. When we found out that it was our neighbor who broke into our house, we moved. Our home was no longer a safe haven for our family.
The church of God was intended to be a safe haven to protect His children from the evils of the world. The church operates under a different set of rules—the Bible. And it serves a different ruler—the King, Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
God and His Word protect His kids from evil by surrounding them with truth. The Apostle Paul said, “These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:14-15).
In God's safe haven, the church, only truth should be taught and practiced. It is no place for anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie. As long as God's inspired, authoritative word is honored then the church will be an oasis in the midst of a dark and troubled world.
Unfortunately, the world often intrudes into the church. Sometimes it gains entrance through the ignorance of God's true children. They do not understand the danger of opening the door to strangers and strange ideas not taught in God's word. Sometimes the world gains entrance by stealth through Pied Pipers who pretend to help God's children through non-Biblical teachings.
The Apostle Paul warned the Ephesian elders, saying, “For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves men will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves. Therefore watch, and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears” (Acts 20:29-31). Paul protected God's safe haven with truth. He said, “I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27).
Fortunately, where ever God's word is taught and practiced faithfully, there will be a safe haven. Threats from the world will be with us until Jesus comes to rescue us. However, when Jesus comes we will never have to fear evil again. Jesus promises us a safe haven forever. He promises that in His Safe Haven “there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” (Revelation 21:27).
03-28-07
# 13
