blog devotional at chapter break
Wednesday
we ended chapter 5 of Proverbs so this is a devotional away from the
next chapter to look at a different topic and passage to break up the
cycle. Again, I am drawing upon another blog that I read on a very
regular basis. Trevin Wax writes a blog for the Gospel Coalition
website and is editor of the Gospel Project which is a new curriculum
for churches. The title of this blog is "4 Ways the World Will Pressure You to Conform" and here are the highlights with my thoughts added in.
Satan has schemes to get us off of the path of wisdom and onto the way of the foolish. The passage used to show 4 of these schemes is the events of the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. How does Satan operate? We can see through the practice of the Babylonians to the four young Jewish teenagers named Daniel, Shadrack, Meshach, and Abendego.
One way is the scheme of isolation. Here is a quote from Dr. Daniel Akin, "The first step in making Babylonians out of the four Hebrew teenagers was isolation from their homeland, family, and friends." Isolation is a powerful scheme of Satan. If he can get you to not be with the family of God on a regular basis and isolate you from them then some other group has a greater influence on your life. Many of our high school grads do not wander from the faith for a time because they have been challenged with some tough question of the faith but rather because they pull themselves out of the practice of being with God's people.
Our isolation from God's people has an effect on us that is strong and I have listened to many who have "gotten out of the habit" or "I know I should get back" but it is hard because now Satan has all kinds of tools to use to keep you isolated. "What will people think? What will people say? Maybe I need to go somewhere else where no one will know me. I can get my fellowship and instruction through the digital media. I can stop at anytime of not being with God's people." When you hear those statements coming out of your mouth then you know that Satan has a hold of you to isolate you from the accountability that we all need.
The second scheme is indoctrination. Another quote from the blog, "Worldly indoctrination takes place all the time, through education, entertainment, societal expectations, etc." The four Hebrew boys were put in a three year plan to make them Babylonians to undo what they had been taught up to that point. Does this sound familiar? Many of our young adults head out to a system that does the same in the vane of helping them think for themselves but not acknowledging what they have been taught.
Let's look at one indoctrination that Satan uses. "All religions are valid paths to discovering one's own fulfillment." This is everywhere and even on our Christian campuses. This falls so much in the face of what Bible says. There is one path given by Jesus and we are not here for our own fulfillment but for the glory of God. If Christianity is so different than that indoctrinal statement than the statement can not be true. Satan has a hold when we set what the Bible says aside and not apply it to what we are hearing.
The third of Satan's scheme is assimilation. We see this with the four Hebrew teenagers as they are given the kings food to eat. They were asked to assimilate into their lives even the food of Babylon. Here is another powerful quote: "Just look at the news stories about celebrities or singers who no longer believe what their traditional churches taught about God. Or the Christian leaders who sever themselves from the church's historic teaching about sex and marriage. What the Church mourns, the world celebrates. What the world celebrates, the Church must mourn."
The Hebrew boys said "no" to the king's food and that is what we have to do as Christians in the world of sin that we live in. We have to say "no." Satan will try to assimilate in a "little" sin, so we have qualified that one is worse than the other. Sometimes we will call it "a little white lie." The color white is usually associated with purity so we are trying to marry together that this sin has some godly quality to it. We are trying to assimilate that it is okay to sin in this one area as long as we don't in others. There is a lot of assimilation going on in the churches across our nation and world. Remember, when we say "no" to the world, we are saying "yes" to God.
The last of Satan's schemes noted here is confusion. Where do I get my identity? The four boys were given a confusing situation by the Babylonians giving them new names, new identities. They were to be called something different but did that make them different? A last quote for the article: "Amazingly, Daniel and his friends discovered that in being true to their God-given identity, they were able to bless the Babylonian nation." When we as God's people stay true to our identity as followers of Jesus Christ then we can do something of good to those around us. When we get confused and start taking on the identity that the world or Satan wants us to have then we become useless in the hands of God.
Augustine said, "Sometimes we must stand against the world for the good of the world." I think we are in one of those times when the church should look so radically different than what is on the evening news and what is promoted and celebrated across the sit-coms of our day. The church should be saying something totally opposite than what the world is saying because it is quoting from the Bible.
Don't get isolated from God's people. Don't get indoctrinated by the world's wisdom because no Bible is in your hand. Don't get assimilated that we think we can change what God says to bring Him up to speed to our day. Don't get confused about why He came and what we are here for as a Christian and the church. Satan is on the move so Christians stand fast. Let's pray.
"Lord, thank You for this great article to think and pray about today. We see how Satan is attacking Christians and the church the same way he was attacking those 4 Hebrew boys in Babylon. May we not fall for his schemes but stand firm upon what You have given us through Your Word and also through the giving of Your one and only Son Jesus. Amen."
Pastor Adam
Satan has schemes to get us off of the path of wisdom and onto the way of the foolish. The passage used to show 4 of these schemes is the events of the book of Daniel in the Old Testament. How does Satan operate? We can see through the practice of the Babylonians to the four young Jewish teenagers named Daniel, Shadrack, Meshach, and Abendego.
One way is the scheme of isolation. Here is a quote from Dr. Daniel Akin, "The first step in making Babylonians out of the four Hebrew teenagers was isolation from their homeland, family, and friends." Isolation is a powerful scheme of Satan. If he can get you to not be with the family of God on a regular basis and isolate you from them then some other group has a greater influence on your life. Many of our high school grads do not wander from the faith for a time because they have been challenged with some tough question of the faith but rather because they pull themselves out of the practice of being with God's people.
Our isolation from God's people has an effect on us that is strong and I have listened to many who have "gotten out of the habit" or "I know I should get back" but it is hard because now Satan has all kinds of tools to use to keep you isolated. "What will people think? What will people say? Maybe I need to go somewhere else where no one will know me. I can get my fellowship and instruction through the digital media. I can stop at anytime of not being with God's people." When you hear those statements coming out of your mouth then you know that Satan has a hold of you to isolate you from the accountability that we all need.
The second scheme is indoctrination. Another quote from the blog, "Worldly indoctrination takes place all the time, through education, entertainment, societal expectations, etc." The four Hebrew boys were put in a three year plan to make them Babylonians to undo what they had been taught up to that point. Does this sound familiar? Many of our young adults head out to a system that does the same in the vane of helping them think for themselves but not acknowledging what they have been taught.
Let's look at one indoctrination that Satan uses. "All religions are valid paths to discovering one's own fulfillment." This is everywhere and even on our Christian campuses. This falls so much in the face of what Bible says. There is one path given by Jesus and we are not here for our own fulfillment but for the glory of God. If Christianity is so different than that indoctrinal statement than the statement can not be true. Satan has a hold when we set what the Bible says aside and not apply it to what we are hearing.
The third of Satan's scheme is assimilation. We see this with the four Hebrew teenagers as they are given the kings food to eat. They were asked to assimilate into their lives even the food of Babylon. Here is another powerful quote: "Just look at the news stories about celebrities or singers who no longer believe what their traditional churches taught about God. Or the Christian leaders who sever themselves from the church's historic teaching about sex and marriage. What the Church mourns, the world celebrates. What the world celebrates, the Church must mourn."
The Hebrew boys said "no" to the king's food and that is what we have to do as Christians in the world of sin that we live in. We have to say "no." Satan will try to assimilate in a "little" sin, so we have qualified that one is worse than the other. Sometimes we will call it "a little white lie." The color white is usually associated with purity so we are trying to marry together that this sin has some godly quality to it. We are trying to assimilate that it is okay to sin in this one area as long as we don't in others. There is a lot of assimilation going on in the churches across our nation and world. Remember, when we say "no" to the world, we are saying "yes" to God.
The last of Satan's schemes noted here is confusion. Where do I get my identity? The four boys were given a confusing situation by the Babylonians giving them new names, new identities. They were to be called something different but did that make them different? A last quote for the article: "Amazingly, Daniel and his friends discovered that in being true to their God-given identity, they were able to bless the Babylonian nation." When we as God's people stay true to our identity as followers of Jesus Christ then we can do something of good to those around us. When we get confused and start taking on the identity that the world or Satan wants us to have then we become useless in the hands of God.
Augustine said, "Sometimes we must stand against the world for the good of the world." I think we are in one of those times when the church should look so radically different than what is on the evening news and what is promoted and celebrated across the sit-coms of our day. The church should be saying something totally opposite than what the world is saying because it is quoting from the Bible.
Don't get isolated from God's people. Don't get indoctrinated by the world's wisdom because no Bible is in your hand. Don't get assimilated that we think we can change what God says to bring Him up to speed to our day. Don't get confused about why He came and what we are here for as a Christian and the church. Satan is on the move so Christians stand fast. Let's pray.
"Lord, thank You for this great article to think and pray about today. We see how Satan is attacking Christians and the church the same way he was attacking those 4 Hebrew boys in Babylon. May we not fall for his schemes but stand firm upon what You have given us through Your Word and also through the giving of Your one and only Son Jesus. Amen."
Pastor Adam
Comments
Post a Comment