By Pastor Andrew Farland
Did you ever feel like you were left out of all the fun?
Maybe you missed out on some epic parties or a few firsts because your parents or some otherwise influencer said, “NO!” when you wanted to be part of the crowd.
“But everyone else gets to do it!”
When someone told you NO or something along the lines of “if everyone was jumping off the roof, would you do it, too?” they meant well. They wanted you to be safe.
The same scenario has been going on for thousands of years. In Romans 13, Paul writes to the Christians in Rome, giving them advice on how to fulfill God’s requirements when the world is at its darkest and full of sin. Paul tells the Romans and tells us that Christ is surely coming soon. Paul knew how easy it is to follow popular culture, and what that culture deems acceptable. He describes the current condition as evil: people wear their dark deeds like dirty clothes, attend wild parties, get drunk, and they live promiscuously and immorally.
But he doesn’t stop with the account of what’s wrong with society. Paul has a solution, and it’s better than a solitary NO. Paul tells us to be the light in dark times. He encourages us to live victoriously within a broken, dark, sick world, unstained by culture. He tells us to “live decent lives for all to see,” but how do we do that?!
It’s simple, really: “Don’t participate in the darkness” [Romans 14:13]
You can’t control what everyone else is doing or what pop culture is doing, but you do have the power of self-control given to you by the Holy Spirit!
Today you might be tempted to relax your morals and give into the culture and the pressures of society, but don’t do it! Stay strong! Live with conviction! You are in charge of yourself.
Joshua 24:15
“But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
