SUNDAY EDITORIAL

Conclusion

Though most of us know exactly what the Lord is trying to tell us with the revelation and knowledge that is in these verses, for many Christians in this day and age, this one is a real hard one to try and keep on top of.

With the incredible advances in technology and knowledge in the last 100 years, much of the world has become a much better place to live, work and play in. As a result of all of this incredible advancement in technology and knowledge, we now have many more toys and material possessions that we can all strive to acquire more of. We can now shoot for bigger and better houses, bigger and better cars, and bigger and better material things for our lives in general.

With all of these types of material blessings from our Lord, it becomes very easy for many to get out of balance with all of it. Instead of realizing where all of this abundant type of wealth is really coming from in the first place, and choosing to say humble and accountable with it in their walks with the Lord, many Christians start to get too caught up in the actual pursuit and desire for this material wealth.

Before they know it, they have placed their pursuit and desire for all of this material wealth before God Himself. The are no longer wanting to serve and follow God. They now only want to serve themselves and what they can get out of this life.

As Christians, we always have to stay on top of this part of our walk with the Lord. Jesus Himself has made it as clear and as plain as day as to how we are to look at this life and interact with it. We are to stay “in” the world. We have a holy mission and a holy calling direct from the Lord Himself on what it is He wants us to accomplish and get done in this life before we depart to be with Him for all of eternity.

The goal of each Christian’s life should be to accomplish, to the best of our abilities, God the Father’s perfect will for our lives. Our goal should be to serve God and do what He wants us to do in this life – not to chase after the world and all the wealth and possessions of this world, which will do nothing but rot and perish the minute we leave and depart from this life.

We have to keep all of our priorities straight, and our number one priority should be to want to serve God and accomplish His perfect will for our lives. If we make that our number one goal and aspiration in this life, then God will appropriately reward each one of us once we enter into heaven. And those heavenly rewards will far surpass and far exceed any of the material wealth and possessions that we could have gained down here on this earth.

As Christians, we have to realize that we no longer even belong to ourselves, much less to the world in general. We have been bought back at a severe price at the death of our Lord and Savior, and we now belong to God, and God alone. We now work for God, and God alone.

What this means is that our very protective and loving God has now drawn a major battle line in the sand for all of us. He is letting all of us know what we can and cannot do in this life. He is letting all of us know where we can tread in this life and where we cannot tread.

Boundary lines and a fence line have now been put up by our Lord. God is now telling all of us to stay on our side of the fence in our walks with Him. We have to stay on the righteous side of the fence in our walk with Him.

Though there is much in this life that is enticing and tempting to want to cross over and experiment with, realize that there are going to be certain things of the flesh that you will not be able to chase after in this life.

You cannot be doing drugs, abusing alcohol, and sleeping with whoever you want to outside the bounds of holy marriage. You cannot be cheating and scamming others in an effort to try and gain more wealth and riches.

You now have to play everything by the Book – and that Book is the Bible!

Many of our teenagers are battling this cold, hard reality in the high schools and colleges they are attending. God obviously wants them to be “in” this world, as they will need a proper education to progress into the calls and divine assignments that He will have in store for them in this life. But that does not mean you have to cross over into the carnal and fleshly worlds of those who are not walking right with the Lord.

You can sit next to someone in school who may be doing drugs and living a wide and carnal type of life. You can befriend him. You can witness to him as the Spirit leads. You can help him with his schoolwork if he should ask you. But that does not mean you have to leave your side of the fence and cross over into his world of drugs, alcohol, and wild sex parties. You can keep yourself unspotted from the world and yet still be “in” the world to help other people out.

The same thing goes for adults who are working in environments where they have a mixture of good apples and bad apples. Again, you can help out, and work in harmony and unity with those who are living their life on the dark and wild side of this life. But that does not mean you have to cross over and leave your side of the fence to start going to their drug, alcohol and wild sex parties outside of work.

Many Christians have been seduced into crossing over into some of these carnal and fleshly realms as a result of the seductive and persuasive influence of some of their co-workers or schoolmates. This is why this particular piece of revelation is so important for each and every Christian to not only have the knowledge of, but to also abide by it and not be tempted to ever cross over into some of these forbidden areas with the Lord.

These boundary lines are being set up by the Lord for our own good and for our protection. Every Christian mother and every Christian father should be burning this piece of revelation into their young children’s minds at an early age so that they can have all of this knowledge to fall back on when they start to get tempted to cross over into this darker side of life. This knowledge should be fully ingrained into them by the time they move into their high schools, colleges and then eventually into the work place.

This particular piece of revelation may be the difference as to whether or not some of your children ever become everything that God is calling them to become in this life. Every minute of every day someone is getting hurt, maimed, or murdered as a result of crossing over into the darker side of this life and hanging out with the wrong type of people or crowd.

Bottom line – you are still “in” the world as far as God the Father is concerned because He has a specific plan and purpose for your life – but you are no longer part “of” this same world. You now belong to God and Jesus, and you now have to live your life the way They want you to live it – not the way you or the rest of the world would like you to live it.

This choice will always be yours to make. You can either choose to follow God and His ways for your life and stay on His side of the fence in your walk with Him – or you can choose to leave the safety and protection of His side and venture into the darker side of this life where death, cursing and major misfortune will await you.

Once again, God the Father could not make things any more clear and any more plain with the revelation that He is giving us in that we are to be in the world, but not of the world.

Remember, stay on your side of the fence in your walk with the Lord. Many great men and women of God have lost their calls, their ministries, and their earthly destinies in the Lord because they violated this basic, fundamental, common sense rule and revelation from the Lord.

Part two

http://www.bible-knowledge.com/in-world-not-of-it/