Our Present Culture

The Apostle reaffirms that we must stay firm to the word. The reasons; to be able to to give instructions, in other word to teach by example and to rebuke those who contradict the word.

In order to stay firm in the word we need to follow these steps:

1- Read it carefully. Do not read it just to read it. Separate time to understand it.

2- Meditate in it daily. Every morning before starting your day remember what you read and look for ways to apply it during your day .

3- Study it seriously. Make it part of your learning activities. Make part of your goals to understand the meaning and apply it.

4-Believe it with all your heart. The word is the truth and God gave us His word to protect us and to keep us save.

5- Obey it consistently. Make it part of your behavior and believe system. Live by the word standards not the worlds.

6- Apply it personally. Learn from it and use the knowledge to change or better your behavior and the way you live and to love God more deeply.

7- Share it confidently. Your testimony is the best tool to attract others to Christ, once they are interested in you, share the word that influences you so they too could gain access to Christ.

If we let the world influence our life, ultimately the culture will destroy us. Let see how little by little we are being captivated by the world standards.

1- When you do not hold fast to word, the world will get attractive. The things that were not important for you before now are getting interesting.

2- They get your attention. You begin to listen and watching to those influences.

3- They win your affections. That artist, that influencer, that show is now very important for you and are redirecting your focus away from the things of God. The culture is becoming more interesting and captivating.

4- They dominate your conversation. The culture and its influence is what is important now. What is she wearing? You need that. Which is the best baseball player? Which is the car that speak the most about you? How do you get it? To which neighborhood you must move to be seen as successful?

5- Influences your way of dressing. The way of the world will push you to look like them and now it is important to be in the trend. Just look at all the ads and promotions just pushing you to get what the artists and influencers are using. They tell you that you must have it. They dress in ways that are only looking for attention showing that their life is lacking self esteem and the only way to feel important is to be different and immoral.

6-Influences your choice of music. Music is one of the biggest tool satan uses to distract us and captivate us. Don't get me wrong, there is a lot of good music, christian and secular, but it is very important to be selective, music can affect your way of thinking. Any music that do not hold to moral standards shouldn't be part of your collection.

7- Steal God's money from you. The culture is going to push you to get what you are worth. That expensive watch, that sports car or the biggest house of the community. Soon you will find yourself in debt, owing money to every bank in your town and unable to provide to the work of God in your church or even your own family.

8-Alter your schedule. Now the time for God is secondary, my trip to the Gym and my training friends needs my attention, there is no time to study Gods word or going to the church.

9- Fills your mind with sensuality. Just look at any romantic series streaming today showing you the way a couple must behave. The things that for the culture are normal are most of the time against the christian values, but the more you watch, the more you believe it is normal. Once you believe they are good you start doing them and you are now in bondage with sin. You are trapped in the thing you didn't want to do in the beginning.

10- Ruin your testimony. Once you are away from the word you are away from God and you become easy prey. You become like them and the world no longer rejects you. You are now welcomed.

The culture will make you useless to the work of God. You are so far from God that you don't even remember how it felt to be close to Him and sadly this will lead you to idolatry. You are going to have more important things than God and that is sin. To have God in the second, third or plainly not the priority of your life, is plain idolatry before God.

The tragedy is that you will live your life without purpose and without fulfilling Gods plan for you and at the end of your life, you will get no rewards, just a wasted life with a lot of personal satisfactions that never filled your life with happiness but the need for more. The only way to fix that is by repentance, but not fearful repentance. Not because your are afraid of Gods punishment, because God does not punish His children, He corrects them as a loving father. You must come back to Him because your are grieving in your heart that you have broken your relationship with Him. Love is what should drive your daily decisions, love to God and His word.

Look at your life and the way you are living, it reflects your love to God or your worldly interests?