Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
What does it mean "to think soberly"? The Holy Spirit, "through the grace" of God, moved the apostle of the Lord to urge all of us ("everyone who is among you") to think that way (Rom. 12:3).
Thinking "soberly" is the essence of life on this great Day of Atonement in world history--just before the final judgment and the second coming of Jesus. Selfish fun and comedy are inappropriate now in this special "time of the end" (Dan. 12:4). "Everyone" whose heart is moved by that "grace" will find that worldly pleasures and comedy do not satisfy the deep yearnings that the Holy Spirit has placed in our hearts just now.
"Atonement" means in very simple words, "at-one-with," or reconciliation of heart with God; and we can know God only through knowing Christ, for He alone can reveal God to us so we can understand the Father.
That means that one interest is henceforth paramount with us: the "Christ and Him crucified" idea that possessed Paul when he came from Athens to Corinth (1 Cor. 2:1, 2). We find ourselves in sympathy with Christ; on Friday morning in Pilate's judgment court, we are not warming ourselves around the fire with Peter and the youth who are cracking jokes about that unworldly Man on trial, Peter aching within his heart but outwardly smiling at their fun in order to appear to be with the "crowd." It's painful to be "sober" when everyone around you is full of mirth. Watching TV comedy is considered fun, and the raucous laughter that prevails is considered innocent; but "the everyone who is among you" that Paul speaks of is very uncomfortable there, for he cannot get out of his mind the reality of that "Christ and Him crucified."
The "great controversy between Christ and Satan" is raging right here; it's being fought in the heart of that same "everyone who is among you."
But Jesus hasn't forgotten His Peter, warming himself by the fun-loving people's fire; the Savior watches His tempted disciple with tears in His eyes of divine love. And "God has dealt to each one [of us] a measure of [genuine] faith," adds Paul, so we can think seriously, "soberly," in a world of pleasure seeking. It's a gift of that much more abounding grace of God. We repent in behalf of those who do not know about this Day of Atonement. Let's not be ashamed to "think soberly" in their presence.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: October 4, 2006.
Copyright © 2013 by "Dial Daily Bread."
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