Watch | Pt. 1

1 Cor. 16:13, “Watch you, stand immovable in all that you have been taught concerning Christ in you, and you in Christ, and you will have strength.”

The word "watch", in the Greek is "gregoreuo" and means

• to keep awake, be vigilant

• to have been roused from sleep

To watch is to give strict attention to;

• to be cautious, to be active.

• to take heed lest through remissness and indolence some destructive calamity suddenly overtakes you. Or, lest you be led to forsake Christ, or you be led or fall into sin, or be corrupted by errors.

It denotes attention to God's revelation or to the knowledge of salvation--a deliverance. It is a mindfulness of threatening dangers which, with conscious earnestness and an alert mind, keeps it from all drowsiness and all slackening in the energy of faith and conduct.

It denotes the caution needed against anxiety resulting from fear. For some, this can be the fearful lie that they can lose their salvation. For others, this can be the worry over the salvation and preservation of others. “Watch” is the general attitude on the part of the Christian believer, in view of actual or imminent tests of one's spiritual life. This involves the duty of vigilance combined with prayer in regards, either to a certain day or hour when the Son of Man will arrive, or to some actual crisis or trial (Gethsemane), or as a preparation for some impending temptation.

Christ watches over us, our need is to watch with Him in total dependence through prayer. Mk. 13:34-35, 37; 14:34, 37-38; Acts 20:31; 1 Thes. 5:6; Rev. 3:3.

More tomorrow on the Word "watch."