One of the big struggles that Christians living in the modern world have is fighting off the barrages of worldly values, fleshly temptations, and demonic deceptions that are sometimes thrown at them by various forms of the entertainment and advertising industries as they are going through their daily activities of traveling down the roads, going shopping for the things that they need, looking through magazines or newspapers, or looking through the television channels or looking through the movie rental stores trying to find something good to watch.
Even though these barrages may cause some distractions, the effects of them can be overcome by using a strategy which has four aspects to it.
The first of these aspects involves Christians using their working knowledge of God’s principles of living found in the Bible to determine if what they see is either good or ungodly.
The second aspect involves Christians using the insight and power of the Holy Spirit to live by God’s principles and be able to reject that which is contrary to those principles.
The third aspect involves having Christians use their love for God and their love for Jesus their Savior to give them extra motivation to live by God’s principles and reject that which goes against those principles.
The fourth aspect involves Christians following the command of the Apostle Paul found in Romans 12:2 (NASB): “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Here Paul is commanding Christians to reject and overcome the process of having the barrages of worldly values and temptations gradually wear down and transform their Christian values in such a way that they become politically and worldly correct in what they say and do.
Instead of letting that transformation happen, Paul commands Christians to have their minds renewed by daily reading God’s Word to learn His principles for living, talking to God in prayer about their problems, and letting the power of the Holy Spirit renew their minds and Christian values systems so they can maintain that Christian value system when they are in the midst of a barrage of worldly values and temptations.
The more that Christians use this four aspect strategy for fighting off the effects of the barrages of worldly values, worldly temptations, and demonic deceptions; the more people around them will see that living by God’s principles will work and will see the light of God’s kingdom shining brightly in the midst of great spiritual, intellectual, and moral darkness. As people living in those forms of darkness see that light, maybe they will want to follow that light and become other members of God’s spiritual kingdom of light.
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