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Shall we exchange a life with Christ,
for a life in the world? Shall we know that we accepted
Jesus in our life, and received the Holy Spirit to live
within us, confessed to God of sin and unrighteousness and
received forgiveness, became a new creation in Christ to
trade it all in.
Because something of the world has
attracted us and we feel that if we follow Jesus we cannot
have it anymore, that we will be missing out on something,
so we compromise. We might say, “I’m not a Christian” to
justify the fact of having this worldly desire. Whether it
is money, a girl, a guy, possessions, status, fame, or
anything that may take your focus off God and put it on the world
is very dangerous.
Maybe, when you gave your life to the
Lord, your heart was not there and maybe just maybe you did
not mean it. On the other hand, maybe your heart was there
and you were sealed by God and you never worked out your
salvation. You may be very weak and very vulnerable to the
power of Satan, to draw you back into the world.
The bible teaches us to workout our own
salvation with fear and trembling, maybe because if we are
not, that it will be very easy for us to slip back into the
world. The world will start looking appetizing to us again.
We will be looking from the eyes of our sinful nature and
things will again become “ok”. If we are a young believer,
our feelings and hormones will take over. Older in the faith
believers will be once again enticed by the feelings of past
sinfulness.
Ephesians 2 verse 3 says, "Among whom also we all once
conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature
children of wrath, just as the others. That you put off,
concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts..." Eph 4:22.
The standards of the world that we once
lived by and were freed from by the blood of Jesus Christ when we
received forgiveness, are looked upon by our flesh once more,
and we then
ask the question, “Why was that so bad, anyway”.
Knowing the truth of Jesus Christ and
suppressing it, or as the Encarta describes it as preventing
something from happening, preventing information or evidence
from becoming known, or putting an end to something. Romans
1 verse 18 & 19 says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,
who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what is
made known of God is manifest to them, for God has shown it
to them." In
this case, the truth of the Lord God, His holy scriptures,
the evidence physically, and spiritually, man makes a choice to
resist. Do not exchange
your eternal salvation for a worldly lie, for the lusts of
this world. 2 Timothy 2 verse 22 says, "Flee also youthful
lusts; but pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with
those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart".
"As obedient children, not conforming
yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; that
he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh
for the lusts of men, but for the will of God" (1 Peter 1:14
& 1 Pet 4:2).
Worldly Lusts - Titus 2:11-14 |
