Now here’s a topic that can be very uncomfortable for Christians, especially when we put ourselves under the microscope and examine whether we are actually following Christ or are focused on our own desires and wanting to “be liked” by the people around us. Sometimes we compromise, thinking maybe just a little will not do any harm, but a little leaven leavens the whole lump. Give the devil an inch, and he’ll take a mile. No matter how small or insignificant, a little compromise here can lead to things you wouldn’t have thought possible before. It’s even taught in psychology as the “foot in the door effect” where a salesperson gets you to agree to something small like letting him talk to you for a few minutes and then you’re inviting him in and he’s showing you samples until you bought something you never had any intent of purchasing and didn’t really need. Sin a little now and you’ll only want more. You may regret it later, yet you keep coming back. I saw a comment online that is appropriate here, “Sin keeps you longer than you’d like to stay, and takes you further than you’d like to go.” Wise words that definitely have application in my own life, as I imagine they do in the lives of many.
Humans don’t always like to examine themselves, and many find it easier to point the finger at others. The ones that do point out the sins of others (hopefully lovingly, with gentleness) are often told not to judge others. It is not judging when you are not condemning someone, but pointing out their error according to Scripture which we can use to correct one another. The Word is a two-edged sword that convicts us. You can correct me just as I can correct you when we look to what God says about it rather than believing a way that seems right to man but leads to death. Some Christians like to think that “Jesus is love” and so he approves of everything and nobody goes to Hell. Well, sad to say, but that’s not how it works. People that think this probably are either not reading their Bible at all, or if they are then not in its entirety because they are cherry-picking verses they like. Taking Scripture verses out of context to support what they believe, imposing their own beliefs onto it, rather than letting Scripture speak for itself and teach us what to believe because God said it and His ways are better than ours. God is holy and tells us we should be holy just as He is. That is the goal. We are far from it and will only obtain it in death as His gift, not because of anything we do. We are not supposed to be friends with the world, but instead expose darkness and preach the gospel so that all may be brought to repentance and saved. He does not want anyone to perish. It is us that lose sight of Him and deviate from His narrow road. God doesn’t change. Just because Jesus “hung out with sinners and prostitutes” doesn’t mean he condoned their behavior. He was there to save them and always told them to “go and sin no more.” A Christian blog stated, “The Christ that told the woman at the well all about her sin and forgave her is the same Christ who appeared to Moses and said take off your shoes because you are standing on holy ground.” We too are still sinners and were lost in sin before He rescued us. He expects believers to repent and be born again. It’s not easy, but we are to take up our cross daily and follow him. The world will hate us because it hated him first, and no one is greater than his master. Don’t start plowing only to look back. The world offers many enticements, lust of the eyes and flesh, but it will all be gone one day. Stay away from sin and seek friendship with Christ, not the world. Seek God’s approval, not the world’s. Do not make idols for yourselves by loving the world or things in the world when we are to love God above all things. And when God said to love your neighbor as yourself, that means just as you would save yourself from falling in a pit, you are to warn your neighbor so they don’t fall in too. It is not love if we let everybody fall in without warning them. We must also be careful lest we fall. “In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them” (Proverbs 22:5). So avoid situations that would tempt you or put snares in your walk with the Lord and keep proclaiming the salvation through Christ that the world so desperately needs. The judgment day keeps approaching and none of us wants to be found a lukewarm friend of the world bearing no fruit. So let us “lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us” (Hebrews 12:1). If you are interested, here’s a link to the short blog article I got the Christ quote above from: https://pulpitandpen.org/2015/07/14/living-in-laodicea-evangelicals-and-friendship-with-the-world/ Comments are closed.
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DisclaimerWhile I love open discussions, not all internet users are kind. I'd like to build people up, not have others cut people down. Therefore, no comments, but feel free to email me if there's something you'd like to share with me. Archives
July 2020
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