There is a tendency in all of us to sink lower as time passes. Unless we honestly assess where we are at the moment, we cannot fight this and we risk deluding ourselves. The Apostle Paul warned Timothy “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Tim 4:16). The letter to the Church in Laodicea in the book of Revelation, shows how we can think “...'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked” (Rev 3:17).

The greatest hindrance to the effective witness of the Gospel is not national politics, or religious fundamentalism, or the sinful world around us, but it is the compromised church. Politics? History has seen the most draconian laws enacted against Christians, but the Church grew. Fundamentalism? The punishment for not bowing down to a statue, caused three men to be thrown into the fire. God walked with them through the fiery trial. Sinfulness in the world? Righteous Noah could stand firm in the midst of the most depraved generation since creation.

It was the height of anti-Jesus sentiment. The mob fury, the underhand political manoeuvres of the scheming high priest and his coterie, and the failed Roman legal process had finally culminated in the crucifixion of the Innocent One. Jesus' faithful friends were few, and were powerless witnesses of the horror that had been enacted before them. To identify with Jesus was to court the displeasure of the powers that be and risk being ostracised and victimised. Into that charged situation comes the resolute Jew, Joseph of Arimathea.

Fire! The walls crackled as the hungry flames engulfed the house. Martha jerked awake as smoke billowed around her tiny bedroom. “Jane! Wake up, Wake up! Fire!” She screamed in panic as she shook her little sister awake. “Quick!” She screamed,  “We've got to get out!” Jane groggily groped around. “Where is my teddy?” demanded Jane tearfully. Martha yanked her little sister off the bed and pulled her towards the door. There was smoke everywhere. Martha's heart was pounding as she pulled a tearful Jane across the living room towards the front door. They could just make it.

The story is told of three friends, Faith, Facts and Feelings, who decided to take a walk on top of a wall. Their start was shaky and it progressively became worse. Then the inevitable happened!! Feelings, the heaviest of the lot fell down first, quickly followed by Faith, who was the thinnest of the lot. Facts, the strongest, retained his perch. Reaching down, he pulled Faith back on top of the wall. Next, Faith and Facts pulled Feelings back up again.

It was a case of two people against an army. Elisha and his servant wake up one morning to find out that the city in which they had slept in, was surrounded by a hostile army. The prophet's servant was shaken but the prophet was not, his reason was strange. He reassures his servant by saying “those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Here is the account from the Bible.