{"id":5374,"date":"2017-12-01T20:10:05","date_gmt":"2017-12-02T02:10:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5374"},"modified":"2017-12-01T20:10:05","modified_gmt":"2017-12-02T02:10:05","slug":"keeping-our-souls-safe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2017\/12\/01\/keeping-our-souls-safe\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping our Souls Safe"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Cindy Sue Baker\u00a0<\/strong>
\n\u201cBy this gospel you are saved, if you\u00a0hold firmly to the word\u00a0<\/b>I preached to you.\u00a0 Otherwise, you have believed in vain\u201d (1 Corinthians 15:2).\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe\u00a0sun shone brightly in the tropical\u00a0blue\u00a0sky.\u00a0 The day was a hot one,\u00a0with humidity\u00a0hanging\u00a0heavily in the air.\u00a0 A young boy of about 10 years old stepped close\u00a0to the base of the coconut tree.\u00a0 Its palm-like\u00a0branches\u00a0which\u00a0were painted\u00a0bright green against the\u00a0sky, were\u00a0barely moving as there was little wind.\u00a0 The boy gazed\u00a0above him at the ripened coconuts hanging from the top of the tree.\u00a0 50 feet was a long way up.\u00a0 Sweat glistened on his forehead and he wiped the moisture from the palms of his hands on his ragged\u00a0red shorts.\u00a0 He flashed an impish grin to\u00a0his two friends\u00a0who were standing near him at\u00a0the base of the tree.\u00a0 Then, with a look of determination, the\u00a0boy grabbed hold of the\u00a0tree with his hands, placing\u00a0his wiry legs on either side of its long trunk.\u00a0 With his eyes set on the brown coconuts high\u00a0above, he began scaling the tree, gripping tightly with his hands as his legs and feet propelled him upward.\u00a0 Down below, more\u00a0laughing, brown-skinned\u00a0children gathered to watch his progress and shout encouragement.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nSoon his mother joined the group.\u00a0 She, like many other Ni-Vanuatu mothers, had sent her young son to knock down some coconuts from the tree.\u00a0 The hard, white meat inside the shell would be scraped out, mixed with water,\u00a0and\u00a0squeezed by hand to produce rich coconut milk that would be used in\u00a0cooking\u00a0many of their local dishes.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nAs she watched her son scale the tree the mother\u00a0was glad that he was finally old enough to help in gathering the\u00a0provisions needed for daily life in the bush.\u00a0 At the same time, she was well aware of the danger that came\u00a0with climbing a coconut tree.\u00a0 She began to join in the hollering, but her message was different, more urgent.\u00a0 \u201cWatch\u00a0out!\u201d she called, \u201cHold on tight\u201d!\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe process of\u00a0knocking down coconuts from a\u00a0tree\u00a0is\u00a0just a regular part of life\u00a0for South Pacific islanders.\u00a0\u00a0 Why then, would this mother take the time to\u00a0admonish her young son to \u201cWatch out\u201d and \u201cHold on tight\u201d?\u00a0 Did he not see the danger of loosening his grip on\u00a0the trunk of\u00a0the tree?\u00a0 Was she trying to make his\u00a0chore\u00a0more difficult or distract him from the childlike fun of climbing a tree?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe reasoning is very simple.\u00a0\u00a0This mother loved her son and was concerned for his\u00a0safety.\u00a0 The danger of the task\u00a0was evident and she gave him a warning in order to\u00a0keep him as safe as possible for\u00a0the work\u00a0ahead.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nWe see a similar scenario when we read the Bible.\u00a0\u00a0Look at these passages, just three of many found in the New Testament,\u00a0where God is giving\u00a0us a warning to \u201cWatch\u00a0out!\u201d and \u201cHold on\u00a0tight!\u201d\u00a0to the teachings within His Word.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u201cWatch your life and doctrine\u00a0<\/b>closely.\u00a0 Persevere in them<\/b>, because if you do, you will save\u00a0both yourself and your hearers\u201d (1 Timothy 4:16).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u201cHold fast the pattern of sound words<\/b>\u00a0which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus\u201d (2 Timothy 1:13NKJV).\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u201cTherefore, dear friends, since you already\u00a0know this,\u00a0be on your guard\u00a0<\/b>so that you may\u00a0not be carried away by the error of lawless men and\u00a0fall from your secure position\u201d\u00a0<\/b>(2 Peter 3:17).\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhy does God\u00a0do this?\u00a0\u00a0Is He wanting\u00a0to make our Christian walk more difficult or\u00a0to\u00a0distract us as we try to live by the Spirit?\u00a0\u00a0Of course not.\u00a0 Like the\u00a0mother for her son, God has a deep love for us, as His children.\u00a0 He gives us these warnings to keep our souls safe.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nDeuteronomy 5:32 shows us that even in Old Testament times God placed great importance on His people\u2019s obedience to His Word. \u201cSo\u00a0be careful\u00a0<\/b>to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0Yes, those days have passed and with them the old covenant.\u00a0 However, God\u2019s desire to see His people holding tight to His Word has never changed.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe Bible\u00a0is more than just a few words of wisdom jotted down by ancient men for us\u00a0\u201cmodern\u201d\u00a0Christians to obey or not obey at our own discretion.\u00a0 The teachings within the New Testament may be \u201cof old\u201d, but they are not\u00a0out-dated\u00a0or irrelevant to life today.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nHolding tight to them will ensure that we will not\u00a0allow ourselves to be carried away by teachings that\u00a0sound<\/i>\u00a0spiritual, but are not\u00a0Biblical<\/i>.\u00a0 The doctrines of the New Testament\u00a0are\u00a0like\u00a0the trunk of\u00a0the\u00a0coconut tree, the lifeline\u00a0that keeps our souls safe.\u00a0 To allow our grip to slip in order to accept teachings that\u00a0are not found in New Testament\u00a0Scripture\u00a0or to let go all together puts our lives, our very souls,\u00a0in danger.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nWe are\u00a0like that young\u00a0boy, climbing\u00a0the coconut tree of life, gripping tightly to God\u2019s Word as we walk by the Spirit.\u00a0 God is\u00a0there too, cautioning us\u00a0with\u00a0much the same loving urgency as\u00a0the mother\u00a0in the story before.\u00a0 He is pleading with us\u00a0to \u201cWatch out!\u201d and \u201cHold on tight\u201d to His Word.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nAs 2 John 8 says, \u201cWatch out that you do not lose what you have worked for<\/b>, but that you may be rewarded\u00a0fully.\u201d\u00a0 We must hold\u00a0on tight to the Word of God\u00a0for the safety of our souls.\u00a0<\/span>
\n\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Cindy Sue Baker\u00a0 \u201cBy this gospel you are saved, if you\u00a0hold firmly to the word\u00a0I preached to you.\u00a0 Otherwise, you have believed in vain\u201d (1 Corinthians 15:2).\u00a0 The\u00a0sun shone brightly in the tropical\u00a0blue\u00a0sky.\u00a0 The day was a hot one,\u00a0with humidity\u00a0hanging\u00a0heavily in the air.\u00a0 A young boy of about 10 years old stepped close\u00a0to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[1135,1202,666,1176,1203],"class_list":["post-5374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-think-excerpts","tag-1135","tag-cindy-sue-baker","tag-example","tag-september","tag-soul","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nKeeping our Souls Safe - 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