Thriving In the Combat Zone – Part 1

Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. 2 Timothy 2:3

Salvation enlists you into the service of Jesus, the King of Kings. His battles become your battles, and His strategies your strategies. There are no exemptions; you’re ‘in for the long haul’. Satan has declared war on you, and it’s ‘conquer or be conquered’. He will attack you on three fronts. Let’s look at each: Firstly the attack from the world. Do you ever feel like you don’t ‘fit in’? You’re not supposed to! ‘…Don’t you realize that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of God? I say it again: If you want to be a friend of the world, you make yourself an enemy of God’ (James 4:4). The line has been drawn; there’s no peaceful coexistence in this war. What is ‘worldliness’? It’s not being in the world, but being like it. It’s not mixing with the world, but blending in with its self-centered values, its ‘relative’ morality and its attitudes toward God, His cause, His Word, and His people. The world’s hunger for power, popularity and self-promotion contradicts the principles of Scripture. ‘…Genuine religion in the sight of God [is]…refusing to let the world corrupt you’ (James 1:27). Jesus told us to avoid becoming swept up in the world’s obsession with material things, or its fear of not having enough to meet our needs (Matthew 6:25-34). You are called to be ‘salt’ and ‘light’ (Matthew 5:13-14). You are to be the influencer, not the influenced. When the world can’t tell you apart from them, your light has gone out and your salt has lost its flavor.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me be in the world as You were in the world – but not be part of the world but be a light to those in it. In Jesus’ Name, Amen