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Keeping Our Identity – Keep Ourselves Pure
There are some youths in church I know who have mixed in with the wrong crowd. If I did not know them personally, I would not have known that they were Christians. They have adopted the worldly ways of their friends – they smoke, dye their hair, and date around. Many of them do this because all their friends are doing it, and they don’t want to be different.
It is vitally important that we choose our friends in school or in career wisely and that we do not end up in the wrong crowd. “The righteous should choose his friends carefully, For the way of the wicked leads them astray” (Prov 12:26). Our friends could be the weight that tips our balance in the right or wrong direction.
Nowadays drugs, sex, and alcohol seem to be the norms of student life and of society in general. Many people use these addictions to drown their sorrow, seek happiness, or escape the emptiness of their lives. They have lost their identity, not knowing who they are and what they are doing.
As Christians, our beliefs and values often run contrary to society’s norms. But we cannot allow the diminishing values of society to make us compromise our faith. Instead we need to firmly fix our eyes on Jesus and keep ourselves from evil as the Scripture describes follow.
I will set nothing wicked before my eyes;
I hate the work of those who fall away;
It shall not cling to me.
A perverse heart shall depart from me;
I will not know wickedness. (Ps 101:3-4)
Any impurity in us will break Christ’s heart. We should have a new attitude to live our lives for Him who died for us.
“He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again (2 Cor 5:15)
The people we hang out with, at school or work, will impact us. God commended Israelites to destroy other nations in the promised land because He knew that people would be negatively impacted by their wrong doings and foreign gods. But the bible also gives us some examples of how we can keep ourselves pure in an adversity.
While Joseph was in Egypt, he held firm to his beliefs and stayed true to his spiritual lineage. Although he was tempted by Potiphar’s wife, he did not give in to physical gratification. He knew that the temporary satisfaction would eventually lead to his spiritual demise.
Daniel also lived in a foreign land filled with delicacies and all things pleasing to the eye, but he did not conform to their indulgences. Instead, he determined to keep himself pure and refused to defile himself with the king’s food.
“But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, not with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. ”(Dan 1:8)
Daniel dared to be different, to stand out. In order to keep ourselves pure, we too need to have this daring attitude – to stand out, to be different, to uphold God’s principles and to live for Christ.
Come and learn more about how to keep ourselves pure through bible study, sermons and fellowship. We warmly welcome you to our upcoming Fall Evangelical Service and Spiritual Convocation. You can also join us for the Fall ESSC via online streaming. Here’s the ESSC schedule:
Thursday, September 26,2024 6:50PM to 8:10PM
Friday and Saturday, September 27-28, 2024 9:00AM to 8:10PM
Sunday, September 29, 2024 9:00AM to 1:00PM
Complimentary lunch and dinner will be served.
Please find our church location below:
4N550 Church Road
Bensenville, IL 60106
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In the meantime, please feel free to join us for our regular Sabbath (Friday evening and Saturday) services online or in-person.
Friday Evening Service: 7:50PM – 9:00PM
Saturday Morning Service: 10:50AM – 12:00Noon
Saturday Afternoon Service: 1:30PM – 2:40PM
Email us at ilovejesus@tjc-chicago.org