"...seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." 2 Peter 1:3-4
These are words I need to be reminded of frequently these days. I am surrounded by the world, and very worldly influences for 8 hours every day at this present time in my life. To my knowledge, there is not one other regenerated person in the whole crew of people I spend my workdays with. I know this is intentional and a huge part of God's sovereign plan for me.
While I know that He as equipped me completely and I lack nothing in the way of the ability to escape the corruption in the world that I live and work in, I am confronted by the stark reality that I am struggling to live out the spiritual reality I know to be true! I see myself slowly, slowly acquiescing to things I would have formerly not said or done. I am not talking about anything horrible or huge, but I am also aware that a person does not arrive at "horrible" and "huge" without first having taken those little steps of compromise.
My daily prayer is that I would glorify Him in all that I say and do and that I would work unto the glory of God. And yet...I am failing.
All reasons to return to the cross. I do believe God is allowing me to experience these brief forays into the mire and muck - sticking my toes in the sludge of the world for me to see how I will fare. God already knows I will fail, but for some reason He wants ME to see it too.
Perhaps I have lived too long in my insulated church world! Maybe I have become prideful and pompous in my heart toward struggling believers, I do not know... What I do know is that because God is allowing it it is good for me. It will be profitable and I will grow and change to be more like Christ as a result.
How do I know this will be the end result? How can I be so certain that I will not dump off the edge and plunge headlong into sin and debauchery? I know because God is faithful (1 Cor. 1:9, 10:13; 2 Thess 3:3; Heb 10:23) and He has promised to present me faultless and blameless before the throne of God (Jude 24)!
I am able to stand alone in the face of ungodly speech and gossip. I am able to stand alone in the face of moral compromise. I am able to stand alone in the face of unkindness and cruelty. My God has thoroughly enabled me to "deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age" (Titus 2:12).
My heart is being exposed through all of these temptations and failures! My desire to man-please, fit in, belong, and be a part of the group rather than being apart from the group has at times taken my speech places I must not go.
By God's grace I have been set apart for a holy calling and a life of separation from the world. Sometimes I need a reminder of all I have in Christ, and the marvelous gifts I have been endowed with to overcome my sinful heart's desires and continue to life a righteous life by the wonderful grace of God.
I thank God for these times. I come again to the wonderful cross of Christ, that reminds me I must die to truly live.