-- Friday, 7/9/10 -- HE'S IN THE WORLD, NOT OF IT -- Judges 3:5-7

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J.R. & Bonnie Ricks

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Jul 8, 2010, 6:53:54 PM7/8/10

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HE'S IN THE WORLD, NOT OF IT -- Judges 3:5-7 NIV

The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. They took their daughters in marriage and gave their own daughters to their sons, and served their gods.

The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs.

The people of Israel found out the hard way that relationships affect faith. The Canaanites were attractive people, especially the women. So the Israelites brought these beautiful women into their homes, marrying their sons to them. With these women came their pagan religions. The Israelites didn't want to seem like uptight religious fanatics, so they allowed the pagan idols to be brought into their homes. After all, THEY weren't going to worship these idols. They just wanted to seem open and friendly and democratic, right? They wanted to be part of the crowd. They didn't want to be looked upon as that nerdy bunch of Jews. Besides, maybe if they were more relaxed they might lead some of these pagans to believe in God. But look what happened… instead of the Israelites leading the Canaanites to believe in the one true God, the Canaanites and their pagan religions dragged the Israelites down to their level.

Sound familiar? How many of us become friends with non-Christians and then find that, instead of leading that person to Christ as we thought would happen in the beginning, that person leads us into greater and greater sin? It happens over and over again. Why? We've said it before - sin is fun! Or at least it looks that way on the front end. And it's a lot easier to sin most of the time than it is to keep from sinning. So when we become friends with non-Christians, it's a lot easier to do things their way than be branded as religious fanatics or Jesus freaks. Being ostracized (at worst) or teased (at best) is no fun. It's only natural to want to be part of the crowd. Teenagers aren't the only ones with peer pressure problems. Adults of every age run into the same issues.

Does this mean we should avoid being friends with non-Christians? Casual friends… no! Intimate friends… YES! Our casual friendships with non-Christians are our primary route to witnessing to people. How are we going to spread the Good News if the only people we associate with already know it? But in associating with non-believers, we must keep our relationships on a totally casual basis, and save our true “fellowshipping” for our believing friends.

At the same time, you and I have to be continually on our guard. We have to be devoted to prayer and study and quiet time and church fellowship. These are our spiritual "vitamins" and "exercise." If we keep our spiritual lives well fed and healthy, we can withstand the onslaught of temptations that we'll face in our relationships with non-believers. We can be in the world, but not of it.

"Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. Live such good lives among the pagans that, through they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us." 1 Peter 2:11-12 NIV

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