‘Share in the troubles we have like a good soldier of Christ Jesus.’
I was thinking this morning after my devotions about our responsibility as believers. Salvation enlists you into the service of Jesus, the King of Kings. some of us never think of it this way, but His battles become our battles, and His strategies our strategies. There are no exemptions; you’re ‘in for the long haul’. Whether you like it or not, Satan has declared war on you, and it’s ‘conquer or be conquered’. He will attack you and not stop.
1. He will attack from the world. Do you ever feel like you don’t ‘fit in’? You’re not supposed to! ‘…Don’t you realise that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God’ (James 4:4 NLT).
The line has been drawn; there’s no peaceful coexistence in this war. What is ‘worldliness’? It’s not being in the world, but being like it. It’s not mixing with the world, but blending in with its self-centred values, its ‘relative’ morality and its attitudes toward God, His cause, His Word, and His people.
The world’s hunger for power, popularity and self-promotion contradicts the principles of Scripture. ‘…Genuine religion in the sight of God [is]…refusing to let the world corrupt you’ (James 1:27 NLT). Jesus told us to avoid becoming swept up in the world’s obsession with material things, or its fear of not having enough to meet our needs (Matthew 6:25-34). You are called to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ (Matthew 5:13-14). You are to be the influencer, not the influenced. When the world can’t tell you apart from them, your light has gone out and your salt has lost its flavor. So ask God to flavor you up an help your light burn bright again!
You are Loved!
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