With the return of our LORD growing closer day by day, we can no longer afford to spend our vanishing time with those who aren’t walking this Spiritual path. We’re going in different directions. So it’s sad to say, but we have to part ways.
Hello Readers, hope all’s well. Time for another End Times post.
The Christian walk isn’t easy. It’s one of the hardest things we can do, honestly. One reason for that is because it calls on us to conquer and overcome our sinful, flesh nature. To rise above and transcend the urges of our bodies as we reach for the things of Heaven, above. It calls us to walk in the Spirit instead of the flesh. To take control of our natural impulses so that we’re in control of our bodies instead of the other way around.
As you know if you seriously try to do this, it’s not easy at all. No one fights harder than someone who tries to conquer themselves. So this battle is already hard enough, we don’t need to make it more difficult. But if we hang out with friends who have no self-discipline, who aren’t on this Spiritual path of destroying the flesh, that’s exactly what we’re doing—we’re making this hellishly difficult struggle even harder on ourselves.
That’s today’s topic. So let’s get straight into it.
Keep Your Feet from their Way
It’s Prudent (Wise) not to hang out with those who sin, commit crimes, or otherwise do wrong. And nobody’s perfect, but I’m talking about people who have a habit of living in sin, and that’s their life.
Have you seen my newest series on my blog, Victory in Virtue? In this series I write about Christian Virtues (and will tackle vices later on). Victory in Virtue Part 5 is about the Virtue of Prudence, which we could also call Wisdom. Check out that link to learn more.
Anyway, one part of Prudence is hanging out with the right people. The people we spend time with have an impact on us. They influence us in both good and bad ways. If we hang out with people who commit sins, we’ll be tempted to commit the same sins as them. If we hang out with people who do good and are productive, we’ll become more like them. This is explained in Proverbs 1.
(10) My son, don’t let sinners entice you.
Proverbs 1:10-11 (Partial); 15-16 (CEB)
Don’t go
(11) when they say:
“Come with us. […]
(15) My son, don’t go on the path with them;
keep your feet from their way,
(16) because their feet run to evil;
they hurry to spill blood.
So we need to be careful who we hang out with. Don’t hang out with people who we know are sinning. OK, got it. Anything else?
Yes, there is something else, and it’s in 2 Thessalonians 3:6.
(6) Brothers and sisters, we command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to stay away from every brother or sister who lives an undisciplined life that is not in line with the traditions that you received from us. (7) You yourselves know how you need to imitate us because we were not undisciplined when we were with you.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-7 (CEB)
OK, now we have a more specific instruction from Scripture, from the New Testament. We need to stay away from people who live an “undisciplined life.” So let’s talk about what that means.
It takes discipline to start, follow, and stay on this Spiritual, Christianity. It’s not an easy path at all. A large part of the Christian walk deals with overcoming and subduing our natural instincts. Conquering our sinful flesh nature, so that we control our body instead of the desires of our body controlling us. Ascending above the urges of the flesh we all have, and living a Spiritual life focused on higher things.
Not only does it take discipline, but it’s really difficult. For the past month at least, I’ve been really struggling to subdue my flesh and its lust. Lust has been an extreme stumbling block for me and still torments me now. The fact that I haven’t acted on the lust is no consolation. Sin is sin is sin; our Savior searches our hearts and minds, and judges what He finds (Revelation 2:23).
(23) and I will even put her children to death with disease. Then all the churches will know that I’m the one who examines minds and hearts, and that I will give to each of you what your actions deserve.
Revelation 2:23 (CEB)
So it doesn’t matter if my lust doesn’t go farther than the mind or the eyes—that’s already too far. Remember, if we even look at a woman with lust, we’ve already committed fornication with her in our heart (Matthew 5:28). And as far as the LORD is concerned, it’s a sin (Revelation 2:23). Many people aren’t concerned with removing this kind of sin from their lives, and many don’t even consider this a sin. But if we want to be serious about this Spiritual path, we need to clean our hearts and minds of sin too. And this is maddeningly difficult. Start trying to reject every sinful thought you have, and you’ll become aware of just how much we all sin in the mind, every day.
(28) But I say to you that every man who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery in his heart.
Matthew 5:28 (CEB)
To try and overcome, transcend the natural impulses of our flesh is no easy task. I fail at it often, and so will you. The flesh is a powerful enemy, and it opposes us the most when we’re trying to be Spiritual and walk in the Spirit. When we’re trying to rise to a more Spiritual level, to rise above life on a flesh-driven level.
Although it gets easier to follow this path the longer we stay on it (because the actions become habits), it still takes a great effort to stay on track since the flesh is always fighting us. It’s a constant enemy, always ready to trip us up into sin. Always ready to knock us off our spiritual path and entice us to indulge in the pleasures of the world. The Savior said as much in Mark 14:38. We want to do good and be spiritual (the spirit is eager), but our flesh nature tempts us and gets in the way of that (the flesh is weak).
(38) Stay alert and pray so that you won’t give in to temptation. The spirit is eager, but the flesh is weak.
Mark 14:38 (CEB)
This is something we’ll always have to deal with. But we can make it much harder on ourselves if we hang around people who are undisciplined. When we see them indulging their cravings, we get tempted for our own cravings too.
Indulgence Is Contagious
A lack of self-discipline is contagious. A lack of self-discipline spreads. Seeing others indulge their appetites tempts us to indulge ours too. If two people are on a diet, and one cheats while the other can see it, the one who didn’t cheat will now be very tempted. Undisciplined self-indulgence is contagious. When we see others enjoying (at least that’s how it appears on the surface) the pleasures of this world, we want to enjoy them too.
This happens for a few reasons. First of all, it’s difficult to exert the self-discipline it takes to control our desires for the worldly pleasures we love. That’s taking a higher path, one which needs constant effort, every day. When we see someone not putting in this difficult effort, we want to rest from our labor too, like they do.
Remember the lesson of Proverbs 1, quoted above. Be careful who we hang out with! We become like the people we spend time with!
If we hang out with people who have no self-discipline, their indulgent habits will rub off on us. We don’t need this extra difficulty, because our battle is already hard enough!
The pleasures of this world are mighty tempting; they were designed that way. And Satan uses them to tempt us, to trap us. Because the more we love the things of the world, the less we love God and the Heavenly things above. Worldly pleasures keep us attached to the world and not God. And these pleasures can be everything from sex to chocolate cake. From a nice car to pride in a high-ranking job. None of these things last though—they are all passing away. Only God is everlasting, and He is all we should love. We can be everlasting too, if we love Him and do His will. This is in 1 John 2:15-17.
(15) Don’t love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them. (16) Everything that is in the world—the craving for whatever the body feels, the craving for whatever the eyes see and the arrogant pride in one’s possessions—is not of the Father but is of the world. (17) And the world and its cravings are passing away, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.
1 John 2:15-17 (CEB)
So we need to beware people who are too in love with any of the pleasures of this world. They might love God, but their excessive love for the pleasures of the world show they spend more time thinking about worldly pleasures than they do God. They seek out worldly pleasures because they aren’t satisfied by a relationship with God. It’s either that, or they’re successfully being tempted by the devil, who is seducing them with the temptations that he knows they’re weak to. He’s successfully seducing them to love the world more than God. Then they will be without God, trapped here in the world which is passing away. Don’t fall into the trap with them! We must be careful who we hang out with!
It takes self-discipline and great effort to love God and think about Him more than tempting worldly pleasures. To be on a Spiritual path instead of a worldly one. If we hang out with people who have no self-discipline, we become like them. This Christian path isn’t easy! If we hang around the wrong people, we’ll be very tempted to give up our own path!
And this is why Paul warned us, in the name of Jesus Christ, to stay away from brothers and sisters who live an undisciplined life. Our path takes great self-discipline if we want to do it right. We can’t afford the extra temptations—our battle is already hard as hell!
Heed the words of 2 Thessalonians 3:6-7. Not all friends are good influences. Not all friends are healthy for us. Be Prudent, be Wise, and stay away from those who live an undisciplined life.
(6) Brothers and sisters, we command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to stay away from every brother or sister who lives an undisciplined life that is not in line with the traditions that you received from us. (7) You yourselves know how you need to imitate us because we were not undisciplined when we were with you.
2 Thessalonians 3:6-7 (CEB)
Don’t Let “Friends” Drag You down
All Christians need to be very careful who we hang out with in these final days. Not all friends are good friends, and not all friends are healthy for us. People we hang out with influence us (and we also influence them too, of course), and we aren’t always aware this is happening. Sometimes we aren’t aware of it until we have different habits, more like theirs.
Well, now that we’re living in the End Times, we don’t have any more time for this kind of slip-up. We can’t afford to make this mistake anymore. If our ‘friends’ are on a bad path, they don’t have much time left to correct their course. And if we hang out with them, they might take us with them where they’re going, which is away from salvation. We aren’t immune to any person’s influence, and if we think so we’re making a big mistake. The friends we keep will impact who we are.
So in the final days, we need to keep the best friends we can. We need to be friends with other Christians, specifically, Christians who are serious about following Christianity and are doing the right things, walking in the Spirit instead of sin. Because we all know that not everyone who says “I’m a Christian” acts like it. We all fail sometimes, it’s inevitable, but I’m talking about Christians who walk in sin and don’t care. They walk in the flesh, indulging their fleshy appetites, and they don’t care to discipline themselves.
Maybe we still want to remain friends with people who live undisciplined lives, or unbelievers, because we want them to be saved when Jesus Christ returns. That’s a noble desire, and we don’t need to cut these people out of our lives completely. But we do need to limit the time we spend with them. We become like the people we spend time with.
With the return of our LORD growing closer day by day, we can no longer afford to spend our vanishing time with those who aren’t walking this Spiritual path. We’re going in different directions. So it’s sad to say, but we have to part ways.
Our path takes great self-discipline and effort, and a lack of self-discipline is contagious. Stay away from the undisciplined, or at least keep them at a full arms’ length. No “friendship” is worth getting knocked off the narrow path.
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Until next time, be strong and do good!
Your new best friend in Christ,
99:9
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