1 Peter 5:1-10.         

As a teenager, I backslid. Having already expressed a call to ministry to my local church and serving in leadership roles at the district level, I began to live a compartmentalized life. I acted one way while I was at church and a very different way when I was at school or alone.

Then one summer, someone I knew from school was killed in a car accident. I remember crying as I read the obituary because I was pretty sure this young man was not saved because he didn’t believe in Jesus. Moreover, I believed that at least part of why he wasn’t a Christian was because I never told him about Jesus.

I concluded that I had two options: I either needed to begin to live for Jesus 100 percent of the time or stop living for Jesus 100 percent so that I’d stop confusing people about how a Christian was actually supposed to live. Around that time, through Bible quizzing, I stumbled across what would become one of my life verses, Luke 21:19, where Jesus says, “Stand firm, and you will win life.”

Thanks be to God for His grace that enables us to stand firm.

Author: Joe Foltz