Dec 26, 2018
'Come out of Babylon,
my people,' so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not
receive any of her plagues. Rev 18:4
Supporting or
tolerating sin just to get along will corrupt you or kill you.
There’s a saying I was taught by my grandpa and have learned
to say it often: Bad company corrupts
good character. For years I didn’t know
that was Scripture (1Cor 15:33), but if you have been reading through the New
Testament, you’ve seen many places where this principle applies. Revelation is the final warning of this
principle – and the most serious.
Believers agree with the principle, but often struggle to
apply it. We’re pretty good at seeing
the bad company other people hang out with, but also are pretty good at
justifying our own choices. Separation
is just so difficult! Sometimes, it’s
our own family members that we need to separate from. Other times, it’s that boyfriend or
girlfriend, or a work buddy, or something else.
Even solid Christians wrestle with this passage in light of trying to
reach lost friends and family – how do you balance it?
God’s calling in this passage is less about people and more
about practices. God is calling us away
from the practices of sin – ie. Leave the liquor, don’t mess with the marijuana,
stop going for the greed, pull away from anger, etc. If being around the people means being
around the sin, then leave the sin.
A great application of this for today would be the TV. The flat screen in your family room is just
an object. By itself, it is not your
enemy. But when we have the remote in
our hands, and activate the screen, MANY of the things on the TV are very
sinful. Take an Inventory for one week: watch what you watch. Isn’t it flooded with things you know are
sinful? (Dianna and I have dropped SO MANY
shows after an inventory like this – even shows we liked the plots of were
filled with sin-encouraging scenes.) The
point isn’t to ban the TV. The point is:
Don’t share in the sins by watching them regularly.
God calls us to live holy lives. That doesn’t mean we all need to live in a
monastery. It means we must separate
ourselves from the sin scene. We need to
remember that there is always a plague coming.
Eventually, there is a price to pay – either in the behavior or in the
judgment. Pull away before it is too
late.
I’m grateful my grandpa recited that Scripture so
often. Maybe we would be wise in
remembering it and teaching it to our families.
The character we reap comes from the company we keep. Separate yourself from the sins people are
pushing on you. They are not your
friends, and you’re not being a good friend by participating in it with
them. Avoid the plague, and maybe they
will learn to avoid it too.
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