If we are set apart and separated from the life we used to live; we are saved from the sin we once lived in. We do not want to get back into the old us, and become the people we used to be. It can be hard to know what to do once we are washed from the world we lived in. Yet we are new people! It is exciting living the good life!
How do you keep yourself from falling
into the life of the world around you? God’s Word tells us we are to be
separate and not follow the ways of the people of this world in which we live.
If you think about it you will realize that every day you are incredibly
inundated with things and people around you from the world. There is an ear
full of sex drugs and rock n roll in the first step you take into a store, or
the first commercial on the television you watch. Commercials for living for
yourself, being free to make bad choices like getting drunk with a case of beer
or other alcohol because it fits in your cooler, or tastes better than the rest
are all over the place. What used to be banned from television is now a commercial;
this amazes me!
We
walk among the people and places in this world, so it is difficult not to be
effected by it in one way or another.
But the Word of God tells us something
that can help us not be so full of the world; in fact we should be full of the
Word instead!
God said: I will live in them and walk among them. I will be
their God, and they will be my people. Therefore,
come out from among unbelievers, and separate yourselves from them, says
the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things. And I will welcome you. And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." 2 Corinthians 6:16-18
“I pray for them. I do not pray for the world but for those whom
You have given Me, for they are Yours. And all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. Now I am no longer in
the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep through
Your name those whom You have given Me, that they may be one as We are. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name. Those whom You gave Me I have kept; and none of them is lost except the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. But
now I come to You, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My
joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them Your
word; and the world has
hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of
the world, but that You should keep
them from the evil one. They
are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent
them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also
may be sanctified by the truth. John 17:9-19
Jesus clearly is warning us here to be separate from the
world, and the only way we are going to stay that way is in the way of our
prayer and Bible Study life. If we surround ourselves with like-minded people,
who are interested in following Jesus then we will not find ourselves straying
into the world, but instead walking in the Word.
“I
pray for these followers, but I am also praying for all those who will believe
in me because of their teaching. Father, I pray that
they can be one. As you are in me and I am in you, I pray that they can also be
one in us. Then the world will believe that you sent me. I have given these
people the glory that you gave me so that they can be one, just as you and I are
one. I will be in them and you will be in me so that they will be completely
one. Then the world will know that you sent me and that you loved them just as
much as you loved me. “Father, I want these
people that you gave me to be with me where I am. I want them to see my glory,
which you gave me because you loved me before the world was made. Father, you
are the One who is good. The world does not know you, but I know you, and these
people know you sent me. I showed them what you
are like, and I will show them again. Then they will have the same love that
you have for me, and I will live in them.”
John 17:20-26
The only way I know of to stay clean from the effects of the
world is to stay in the Word and Truth daily!
If I find myself forgetting to read the I am being influence by the
world around me.
If I do not take the time to pray when I wake, or when I see
or hear of a need, I am not following Jesus. Just think about it, He stopped
when someone touched the hem of his garment and healed people constantly as
they approached Him or even just as He passed them by! If we are truly walking
in His Word the we are going to be full of the Spirit and able to do greater
things as He said we would do! The thing is, we must be found about our Father’s
Business! Just like Jesus!
Let’s make it our challenge this month to do that! Let’s
focus our efforts to do what Jesus did! Love on others, share a meal, buy a
coffee, pray for one another, listen, pray for one another. Most of all spend
time talking to the Father, just like Jesus!
Dear Heavenly Father, help us to remain in You, just as
Christ is in You. Help us to remain sanctified unto you in Jesus name, amen.
Suggested Reading: 2 Corinthians 6:1-18, 2 Corinthians 7:1-16,
John 17: 1-26 and John 15:1-27