Running with Skunks

Chuckle: "A mother found her young sons playing with a litter of baby skunks. Remembering a smelly experience she'd had with one when she was a child, she shouted out, 'Run, children, run!' Each boy grabbed a skunk and ran!!!"

Quote: "We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." --Winston Churchill

"As God said: . .Therefore, come out from them and separate yourselves from them, says the Lord. Don't touch their filthy things, and I will welcome you" (2 Corinthians 6:16-17 NLT).

"When Jesus calls us out of the world, he doesn't invite us to bring our smelly way of life with us. But many church members still come to church every Sunday smelling like a skunk. The proof of Christianity is not a great church attendance record or a baptismal certificate, but a changed life. Following the Lord includes giving up unsavory friends and habits. And if we're really converted (saved), that choice isn't hard to make. When Jesus calls us, we have to leave our sinful ways behind. We can't follow him if we're running with skunks." (This quote is from an article by Doug Fincher, San Augustine, Texas).

It's true that after we become believers, God wants us to come out from among the sinful elements of the world. We have been set apart by God to take on the image of Jesus Christ. He doesn't want us to act like the world, look like the world, be like the world, or have loyalty to the world. But He does want us to remain in the world as a positive influence for Him. In John 17:15, Jesus prayed to the Father for His disciples and all believers, including you and me, as follows: "My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it (the world)."

It is God's plan that we be in the world but not of the world. To allow God's plan for your life to unfold, your allegiance and devotion must remain centered in your Lord while being used of Him to touch the lives of desperate people around you. You can do this by consistently avoiding even the "smell" of the world as a part of your life. The world follows Satan's agenda, and Satan is the avowed enemy of Jesus and his people.

As a Christian, the strength to remain free of worldly influence on your life comes from the Holy Spirit who resides within you. Just surrender your will completely to his and let him have complete control. We can never separate ourselves completely from sinful influences; however God wants us to resist becoming tainted by the sin around us, while, in the power of the Spirit, never giving in to sin or giving up on the sinner.

“Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. There still others to whom you need to show mercy, but be careful that you aren’t contaminated by their sins” (Jude 22-23 NLT).

Love, Jerry & Dotse