Come, ye people, rise and sing
Rock of ages cleft for me
I am thine oh Lord
How firm a foundation
Bread of the world in mercy broken
Praise the Lord, his glories show
19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. 21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.
1 John 5:18-21
Today too many people make their decisions based on what they feel.
But if you know something to be true it matters. It changes things.
Sinning is of the devil, whose pattern will you follow?
So if you are born of God, why do you keep on sinning?
Yet, even believers sin. And if we say we don't sin, we are making God out to be a liar.
But Jesus is always our advocate.
No one can steal us away from him.
He protects his own. He keeps us safe.
Not only that, the Lord God helps him.
Once we belong to Jesus, the devil can never really catch hold of us again.
Sin happens. But for the believer we don't make a practice of it. We don't make a point of sinning.
Jesus' hold on us is secure.
Because of this fundamental reason....who we belong to has changed. We are not our own any longer. We are God's.
Ergo our life has changed. We begin to reflect the one we are owned by.
This is sign that we know we are truly of God. That we are kept by God, growing and being changed by him.
We are God's, and those who don't are held by the devil. But we all started in the world. We were all there at one point and the only reason we aren't now is God's work in our lives.
The world will try to have us change to their standards. They will try to have us love them. But we have a different call upon us... to love the Lord and the things of him.