This is an interesting looking trap isn’t it? It’s brightly colored, ginormous, and even though is clearly a trap, it looks almost like a huge toy on a playground. No matter how interesting it looks, it is still a trap. If something sets it off, it is going to get crushed.
The enemy is constantly trying to tempt us with fun and intriguing things. Lately, he’s been trying to lure me into his trap. He’s been trying to get me to give up and give in. There are days, when I’m so weary of doing what is good and right that I am almost willing to fall face first into that trap.
I am tired, exhausted, burned out, weary of being fighting for what is right…of being peculiar. It seems like the influence of the world is constantly pulling at my family and friends. The enemy is using the pull of popular culture and society to try to pull me and my loved ones down into the trap.
As a parent, I set rules and boundaries for my family to keep them grounded in God’s word and family values. However, there is the constant pull from television, radio, magazines, books, and other people who contradict those values. There is even the pull from within to be complacent or lazy by spending more time watching tv than reading the Bible. Electronic devices are addictive and have more temptations than we can possibly count.
Televisions and devices can be turned off, unplugged, or even taken away to prevent temptations. Relationships are another story. Well meaning friends and family just don’t understand why I don’t want my television on 24/7. They think we are being too conservative or sticks-in-the-mud for not allowing our children to watch popular television shows. They say everyone watches it. It’s just things they see every day on the street. What’s the difference? They don’t understand why we set time limits and curfews on devices.
First of all, just because things happen in our world every day does not mean we should inundate our children with those activities. We shouldn’t desensitize them to them, making them believe that the immoral and reprehensible are the norm. Think about it–murders happen out on the street every day, but we don’t sit our children down on the street corner in front of criminal activity with a bag of popcorn and a soda and call it family entertainment. That’s essentially what we are doing every single time we turn on the boob tube.
We are called to be a peculiar people. We are NOT called to be like everyone else, to fit in, to become the social norm. This is, however, what the world will tell you. If you are like me, you struggle for so long pulling toward God in this tug of war against the enemy. He pulls so hard and for so long and he even sends those closest to you to roll their eyes, argue, and entice you to give up the fight and fall into the trap.
I have to be honest with you. I am soooo tired of pulling on the rope trying to keep my loved ones on God’s side, and I am sure you are too. BUT as The Lord has reminded me lately a little hard work and dirt from digging in my heels is a small price to pay compared to falling into the trap, especially when I think about the fact that my loved ones will fall into the trap with me.
We have got to stay diligent and consistent. The cost of giving up is too great. I just want to encourage you today to remain godly “peculiar”. Don’t let the enemy make you feel like you are alone in the fight. You aren’t alone. There are so many of us out there who are freakishly conservative as the world may call us.
We are called by God to be a peculiar people–peculiar in how we are entertained, peculiar in how we treat and respect others, peculiar in our speech, thoughts, and actions, peculiar in how we wisely we spend our time. The enemy wants us to believe being peculiar is strange, weird, and complicated. Guess what? It is all of those things, but at stake is the eternal destination of ourselves and our loved ones. There should be no question as to where we stand. Hang in there. Do not fall into the fight. You are not alone. Keep moving closer to God.
Titus 2:14 “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
Romans 12:1-2 “I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God”
Deuteronomy 12:6 “For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth”
1 John 2:15 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world”
Galatians 6:9 “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”