One Line,
One Direction

Four verses, and Paul packs an entire vision of the church into them.

Read them again and watch the picture come together. A group of people who belong to a different kingdom, living like it in a city that doesn’t, holding a line that no one abandons, pushing forward together toward something bigger than any of them, and refusing to be frightened by the pressure that comes with it.

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That’s the church Paul is describing, and notice how little of it is individual.

We’ve been trained to read the Bible as a personal document, and a lot of it certainly is, but this passage barely works that way. You can’t stand firm together by yourself. You can’t strive as one alone. Even the courage in verse 28 is corporate, because the fearlessness that becomes a sign to outsiders is the fearlessness of a group that won’t scatter. Paul assumes throughout that these people are doing this with each other, and every single thing he asks of them requires the others to be present.

Then there’s the phrase that holds the whole thing together, which is the faith of the gospel. That’s the direction. A church that stands firm without moving forward becomes a fortress, and a church that moves forward without standing firm becomes a fad. Paul wants both, aimed at one thing.

So here’s the honest self-assessment for the week. Are you in the line or watching it? Are you striving with anyone, or simply attending near them? And when the pressure comes, and it will, is your instinct to hold or to scatter?

None of those questions are about your personality. They’re about your decisions, so every one of them can change this week. You don’t need a personality transplant to be part of what Paul is describing, and you don’t need to wait until you feel ready either.

Here’s the encouragement to carry with you: The line doesn’t depend on your strength, because Paul says you stand firm in the one Spirit rather than in yourself.

God has never once run short.