Resist by Submitting

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

(Titus 2:11-12)

In this age, this world is full of vile and disgusting temptations. When I turn on the television it’s not hard to find programming that should turn every face bright red in embarrassment. I often receive emails enticing me to visit websites with explicit sexual images that no one should see, married or single. At one time in America, there were standards that kept the majority of people from being exposed to these things, but those days are long gone.

I’m sure our secular society, as a whole, looks upon the way things are as progress. I doubt they see anything wrong with it. Even some of my Christian friends are so conditioned to the images they see, they don’t even think anything about it anymore. Our children play video games where killing your opponent is the goal. The more they kill, the better they score.

Fortunately, Jesus brought salvation from all those evil enticements, but I have to do my part also. Old friends would tempt me to do the things we used to do before I came to Jesus. I used to think I should keep the old friends around in the hopes I could influence them for Christ. Some of them will never repent and come to Jesus but they can always drag me back toward my old sinful ways.

That means it’s time to leave those friends behind and cling to new friends who help me stay true to God. If my feet are smelly and dirty, I wash them; but how long would they remain clean smelling if I put the same dirty socks back on? In the same way, it doesn’t do any good to be baptized into Christ if I’m going to go right back to my old lifestyle.

Avoiding the pitfalls and enticements of this world does not come automatically with salvation. I had to accept training and instruction from elder believers and by studying the scriptures. With a deeper understanding of what it means to be a follower of Jesus Christ, came my strength and ability to renounce the sinful offerings of this world. Yes, I slip and fall every once in a while, but it gets easier every day to avoid most of them before I fall.

By living “self-controlled, upright, and godly lives,” I will not willfully do the same worldly things I did before I was saved. It was hard and a bit frightening to think about starting all over making new Christian friends, but I knew that’s what I had to do. It was awkward and even a little bit painful at first, but the reward far outweighs the discomfort of change. God has richly blessed me with friends who believe as I do, who’s interests are the same as mine and who love the Lord as much as I do. 

Heavenly Father, what a wonderful God you are! You bless us with so much in our everyday lives. How can we forget to praise you every day for what you do? Is there any gift you’ve given us more important or more perfect than the Savior who rescues our souls from death? Thank you for your first appearance, Jesus, showing us how to love our brothers and sisters as we walk in accordance with you’re the Father’s will. Help us to use the words of scripture to train ourselves to reject the vices of this evil world. Keep us from our baser impulses that drag us back into our old ways. Use us to show others they too can have the light that shines in our hearts. Teach us to love everyone the way Jesus does. Give us a heart and a zeal like his for the lost, that they will repent and turn the him for their salvation. In his precious name, we pray. Amen!