The phrase, or idea, of being counted worthy of being a follower of Christ occurs a few times in the New Testament. Some of these times are related to suffering for Christ's sake. All of them are related to being faithful. Here they are (all quoted from the public domain World English Bible):
Matthew 10:37 He who
loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who
loves son or daughter more than me isn’t worthy of me.
38 He who doesn’t take his cross and follow after me, isn’t worthy of me.
Acts 5:40b
Summoning the apostles, they beat them and commanded them not to speak
in the name of Jesus, and let them go.
41 They therefore
departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to suffer dishonor for Jesus’ name
Ephesians 4:1 I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk worthily of the calling with which you were called,
2 with all lowliness and humility, with patience, bearing with one another in love;
3 being eager to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Philippians 1:27 Only let your way of
life be worthy of the Good News of Christ, that, whether I come and see
you or am absent, I may hear of your state, that you stand firm in one
spirit, with one soul striving for the faith of the Good News;
28 and in nothing
frightened by the adversaries, which is for them a proof of destruction,
but to you of salvation, and that from God.
29 Because it has been granted to you on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer on his behalf,
30 having the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear is in me
Colossians 1:9 For this cause, we also,
since the day we heard this, don’t cease praying and making requests for
you, that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all
spiritual wisdom and understanding,
10 that you may walk
worthily of the Lord, to please him in all respects, bearing fruit in
every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
11 strengthened with all power, according to the might of his glory, for all endurance and perseverance with joy;
1 Thessalonians 2:11 As you know, we exhorted, comforted, and implored every one of you, as a father does his own children,
12 to the end that you should walk worthily of God, who calls you into his own Kingdom and glory
2 Thessalonians 1:3 We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers,
even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and
the love of each and every one of you towards one another abounds;
4 so that we ourselves
boast about you in the assemblies of God for your patience and faith in
all your persecutions and in the afflictions which you endure.
5 This is an obvious sign
of the righteous judgment of God, to the end that you may be counted
worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which you also suffer.
11 To this end we also
pray always for you, that our God may count you worthy of your calling,
and fulfill every desire of goodness and work of faith, with power;
12 that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Musings on science, the Bible, and fantastic literature (and sometimes basketball and other stuff).
God speaks to us through the Bible and the findings of science, and we should listen to both types of revelation.
The title is from Psalm 84:11.
The Wikipedia is usually a pretty good reference. I mostly use the World English Bible (WEB), because it is public domain. I am grateful.
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I have written an e-book, Does the Bible Really Say That?, which is free to anyone. To download that book, in several formats, go here.
The posts in this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can copy and use this material, as long as you aren't making money from it. If you give me credit, thanks. If not, OK.
The posts in this blog are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. You can copy and use this material, as long as you aren't making money from it. If you give me credit, thanks. If not, OK.
Thursday, May 03, 2012
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2 comments:
O, to hear Him say: "Well done, good and faithful servant."
Indeed! Thanks.
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