“And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:12)
What surrounds you right now? What do you think about when you wake up? Is it your job? Your upcoming Friday and weekend? Maybe money? Friends? What about God? We can say we are not of this world, but is that really true?
Ask yourself this question and examine yourself (2 Corinthians13:5): Are you truly following Christ and are not of this world?
The world is evil—period. Everything about the world is bad. Don’t be fooled by the world. It will do its best to trick you and pull you down to its level and swallow you up, if not whole, then piece by piece. Satan has been part of this world longer than we have been. He has his ways refined to creep up and test and temp you to leave God in the dust.
This will not be blatant sometimes, but like a slow leak, that little by little whittles away at you till the next thing you know is that you fell and are farther away from God than you should be. Satan uses the world as his playground to try to bully and pull the wool over your eyes to take them off of God.
He will use the world and all that it offers to poke and prod you to get you to stumble. And when you do stumble, the guilt you have will be capitalized upon to make you believe you cannot ever go back to Christ, that you cannot not be forgiving. It is a lie!
Jesus Christ defeated the world when He became the sacrificial Lamb for each one of us. He opened the way to heaven for those who believe He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Satan and the world know this but will try to sway people from this truth. The world offers so much to satisfy the sinful nature of mankind that it sometimes seems impossible to avoid.
Temptations abound everywhere.. Sex, money, status, worshiping false idols—the list can go on and on. Each man and woman has a weakness and the world will find that crack to attempt to exploit it. It doesn’t matter how big or small the weakness is, it will be found and temptation will find you. How you answer that temptation is what is matters.
“Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7)
The Bible is our road map in life. Don’t know what to do in a situation? Turn to the Bible. Sure, the Bible doesn’t have your specific situation listed, but the guide posts are clear. When you submit to the Lord, you submit to His will and His will is written for you in His Word. The guidelines are there. The knowledge is true and the truth will lead you to do the right thing.
If you submit to the Lord, you will not suffer the consequences of sin. Temptation is always in front of us. It is always lingering about. Yet, we can hold strong to our beliefs and the truths we know when faced with this sort of adversity. Remember, the devil uses the influences of the world to tempt us. His influence in the world will set the conditions for sin, but the commission of sin is not for Satan to take credit—it is on us individually for failing and falling. It doesn’t matter what the sin is, whether adultery or theft or murder, sin is sin.
When we commit sin, it is our failing. By adhering to the edicts in the Bible, the manifest words of God, we can fight and avoid sin. Will there be failure? Sure, but by living the Word as it is design for, we can resist and avoid situations that will tempt us. When we resist Satan when faced with temptations, confidence in ourselves and the ability to fight temptation lends itself to us being better able to fight temptations. It is completely possible; don’t let the world make you think differently.
The world is wily in its ways, but God in His Word, addresses each type of temptation we can face and gives broad brushing guidance to face the temptations of the world. Resistance to the world is possible, with the Lord, and success can be celebrated. The more sin is resisted, the more apt we will be to avoid future problems.
It seems as if we each have a special temptation or sin that we have to face lingering day in and day out. It is our weakness and our cross to bear. I know, I have one too. It hangs over my head, ready to swoop down at any time. It is a daily fight. It is a never-ending battle. I’m at war with myself and my sin.
By resisting, I’m fighting that weakness I have. My problem this: I don’t always fight with God by my side, but by my own self will. When this happens it is when I succumb to my burden. Only when this happens do I realize my lack of submitting to the Lord.
Look, I’m not going to beat this up. We all need to submit to the Lord to resist temptation and sin. Is this hard? Yes. Will it ever be easy? No.
The world will do its best to wear us down but each time we resist and are successful, the easier it becomes. Satan’s influence will always be in front of us and we can either say yes or no to whatever temptation is laid before our feet. We can’t avoid it, but we can resist. By submitting to the Lord’s will for us, we will come out the other end in victory. God bless.