Jesus called the generation that He lived and walked among "wicked and perverse." As you can tell from the news in the recent weeks, nothing has changed. Are you discouraged, fearful, heavy with the burden of the sin going on around you, afraid for your children, and have no idea how to protect them? I encourage you to read, meditate and study Ephesians 4 for your solution.
Ephesians 4 is a great chapter to study in how we are to live victoriously in this evil age and explains why man is so evil without Him. First of all, God has given preachers, prophets, teachers and others "for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." Therefore, make sure you are listening to preachers and teachers who teach the Word without watering it down in any way. Find a strong, biblically-based church and always beware of false teachers.
God's purpose in this is so we are not longer like babies in our thinking, but mature believers in Christ able to easily discern good from evil. Then we will be able to speak the Truth in love to others who are beginning to wander from the faith or are in outright rebellion to God's ways. Our purpose is to become like Jesus, since He is the head of the church, our Savior, and Lord!
How do unbelievers walk compared to believers? In the "vanity of their minds." All of our actions and beliefs come out of our mind {thoughts} and unbelievers exalt their minds over God's. Their understanding is darkened and they don't understand the ways of God because of the "blindness of their heart." They have slowly but surely chosen to disobey God's ways and they soon become ignorant of right from wrong. Finally, they have "given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." You see this being lived out in many in our culture today.
Paul exhorts us to put off our old life before Christ made us new creatures in Him. The moment we believe, we are brand new creatures, freed from our sin, and ready to spend eternity with Him. Therefore, we need to stop living as if we were not new creatures. How do we do this? By being "renewed in the Spirit of our mind." We do this by dwelling on His Word and knowing it. Continually remind yourselves who you are in Christ and that you are a new creature who was created in righteousness and holiness. Live victoriously in the eternal life you have begun living down here the moment you believed. God is on His throne and has it ALL under control! We are strangers and aliens simply passing through and living our short lives here for His glory while waiting with anticipation for our life on the new earth He will create for us with no sin, pain, sickness, or evil.
How does a new creature live? Stop lying and begin telling the truth! Don't sin in your anger. Don't even let Satan have a tiny foothold into your life. Only speak wholesome and edifying words. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. "
God's purpose in this is so we are not longer like babies in our thinking, but mature believers in Christ able to easily discern good from evil. Then we will be able to speak the Truth in love to others who are beginning to wander from the faith or are in outright rebellion to God's ways. Our purpose is to become like Jesus, since He is the head of the church, our Savior, and Lord!
How do unbelievers walk compared to believers? In the "vanity of their minds." All of our actions and beliefs come out of our mind {thoughts} and unbelievers exalt their minds over God's. Their understanding is darkened and they don't understand the ways of God because of the "blindness of their heart." They have slowly but surely chosen to disobey God's ways and they soon become ignorant of right from wrong. Finally, they have "given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness." You see this being lived out in many in our culture today.
Paul exhorts us to put off our old life before Christ made us new creatures in Him. The moment we believe, we are brand new creatures, freed from our sin, and ready to spend eternity with Him. Therefore, we need to stop living as if we were not new creatures. How do we do this? By being "renewed in the Spirit of our mind." We do this by dwelling on His Word and knowing it. Continually remind yourselves who you are in Christ and that you are a new creature who was created in righteousness and holiness. Live victoriously in the eternal life you have begun living down here the moment you believed. God is on His throne and has it ALL under control! We are strangers and aliens simply passing through and living our short lives here for His glory while waiting with anticipation for our life on the new earth He will create for us with no sin, pain, sickness, or evil.
How does a new creature live? Stop lying and begin telling the truth! Don't sin in your anger. Don't even let Satan have a tiny foothold into your life. Only speak wholesome and edifying words. "Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. "
