The Danger Of "Little Things"

They're "Little Things", little tweaks to what we've been able to tolerate or have accepted in the past. That's all they are. Little things that push the boundaries just a little further. Nothing big, but every little one potentially very dangerous when we consider that since the creation of man, our God hasn't compromised what He's said even one "little" bit.

Most of us live in a world full of things we feel that we have to try to keep up with. The demands of the world around us can be many and at times we may find ourselves stretched to our limits to have any time to pay attention to all of the things we hold to be important. Sometimes it's hard just to cover all of the basics as well as we feel we should. Or in the way that society would tell us that we should. But in the course of our busy lives, there are some things we need to remember to be aware of and that we can't afford to overlook. As Christians we have to constantly remind ourselves that the enemy of our souls is counting on our distraction to allow himself the opportunity to slowly introduce ever so slight tweeks to the moral fabric of the society we live in the midst of. They're always just "little things" - "little" changes to what's considered acceptable in society. Little by little the boundaries of what's considered acceptable by this world gets moved farther and farther out and what used to be extreme or outrageous eventually seems to become commonplace given enough time.

But as Christians, we can't afford to forget who we are. Or that while what the world seems to find acceptable changes a little at a time, our God hasn't changed even the slightest since the beginning of time. We have to remember that the society of this world is not the society of Heaven. It's not the society ruled by our God - the society that we belong to. We have to constantly remind ourselves that we're just passing through this place - that we don't belong here! We're citizens of Heaven and the children of our Father God. His commandments and values haven't changed in even the slightest "little" amount. So regardless of what the world is willing to accept, our goals and our rules cannot be allowed to change even a little if we want to be found acceptable and pleasing to our Father.

While we're here, we've been given the rules that we're to conduct ourselves by. They aren't options to be determined by popular opinion and they aren't subject to modification or change anymore than our unchanging God. We've been given the wisest council of our Father God regarding the truth of our condition, how to receive His blessings and favor, and how we're to survive our time here. So however much the world would choose to follow it's own wisdom, we know that we were given the truth of our own situation as disciples of Christ and Children of the Most High. The world is the world, but that's not who we are. We as Christians all over the world ... are the nation of Christ on the earth, Christ's Church and the Children of God. Our home is not here and our rules are defined by our omnipotent God. We were designed and created for a life beyond this one. Like all men, we've been given the choice to settle for this one if we choose to. But we aspire to fulfill our Fathers' reason for our creation. We're reaching for the goal of our Gods' desire. We choose to be called the children of our Father God and enjoy the fulfillment of the promises He's made to His Children - not the destiny He's promised to the children of this world. So the worlds' wisdom gives us no excuse to disobey the words of our Father.

Because of my goal of pleasing my Father and given the fact that He's spoken the truth of all things to us from the beginning, if I boast that even the smallest wrong thing is right, I have poisoned my own soul and crossed the line that I can't afford to cross. That line was draw by our God long before our time and it hasn't moved. The truth of all things has been set before those of us who live today by our God and He didn't leave their declaration to our choice. So if I speak of even the smallest wrong thing as though it were right, then I've set my face against our God. Our Lord didn't leave these things to question, He declared them before all men already. So if I now choose to call a wrong thing right in order to justify my own actions or desires before men or even silently to myself, then I've declared that God is wrong to His face ... and He hears even my unspoken thoughts. So even if my other words and outward actions may show a desire to please God, I would have already declared myself to be an enemy of the truth and made myself an opponent of the very one who holds my future completely in His hands ... the very one I've chosen to follow.

These things I'm saying may sound harsh, but we know in our heart of hearts that our God will not judge the actions of men from the world's perspective but from His own. His judgement won't be accepting any little concessions we've made against what He's said, but will be according to His perspective and according to every word that He's spoken. There'll be no excusable exceptions and no place to hide shameful compromises from His gaze. As Christians, our sins may be hidden in Christ. But consider this: in the day after judgment has passed, when we live before His throne in the glory of His presence who will hide the people we have become then? Would it not be better to prepare ourselves now to live as citizens in Heaven before the Holy face of our Father? Is not now the time that He's allowed us to prepare for that day? If I've not taken this time allowed by His grace to learn, to train myself with His help to live obedient to His word and to His ways, then who will I be in the days that follow judgment as I live in His presence? Given that we're creatures of habit, if I've not learned to live in complete obedience, will my compromising ways follow me to be lived out before His face?

I may have the advantage over some younger who may read this in that I can recall a time when so many things that are so common place every day now would have caused an uproar - a righteous uproar before our Lord in favor of His Word. But the source of the worlds' societal wisdom and tolerance today is man's own sinful nature and ... the very one who's own rebellion got him thrown out of Heaven. He's the very one who now sets himself to our destruction and also to depriving our Father of His desire. So please tell me why anyone would choose to accept and follow the worlds' wisdom? Our Lord's already told us what the truth is. So to accept anything else is to opt out of the truth and accept the consequences our God has declared for the followers of lies along with the father of lies himself.

How has so much changed in one mans' life time? Surely, and without a doubt, these things I speak of have existed since the beginning of sin in the world. But they now seem so widely and openly promoted to such a degree as to become commonplace and even acceptable to some who claim to follow Christ. It's not only frightening, but deeply heartbreaking. How many people are being sucked into accepting what is unacceptable according to what our Fathers' told us? How many more are then deceived by those who accept what our Lord has declared unacceptable while claiming to follow Christ? I feel strongly that the massively expanded media in my lifetime has become the powerful method of deception's persuasion.

Most every vice, every trap, every lust of any kind that appeals to our flesh is presented 24 hours every day and 7 days every week in all forms of media. It's repeated relentlessly to assault our minds to such a degree that we become numb to it if we allow ourselves to be subjected to it. Every lust: wealth, possessions, sex, power and more are not only shoved in our faces, but promoted in some cases as virtuous. But in the eyes that will judge the world in the end, right and wrong have not changed and we cannot afford to forget who we belong to.

The world has it's own explanations for most everything our God has done and it's own set of ever changing rules and code. None of it brings life. In fact most of it only hastens death. But in this crazy world of man, we can be so grateful that we have the opportunity to know the truth. We can celebrate a future beyond this world and know the meaning of life. We can know a peace and security that lives outside of the ways of this world. We can enjoy a reality that's not controlled by the chaos of this world, but by the Sovereign God of the universe. The God whose perspective is so far above anything of man's intellect and the God who created us for a life that exists so far beyond this moment.

When we come to recognize that as our flesh was formed in the womb of our mothers, our spirits are now in this moment we call life being formed in the womb of the earth, we will have begun to have the perspective of our God. When we acknowledge by the way that we live in this world that we are not yet born into the life that our creator intended, we will have begun to see a glimmer from His view point. We can then begin to understand that many of the things in this life that would seem to come against us are simply the work of the hand that forms the character of our spirits for our good to live in harmony with our Father. Only when Christ returns to bring us to the Father will our time of spiritual forming in this world come to an end and we will then be born into the eternal life that we were created for. This "life" isn't an end, it's a time of our spiritual forming. The LIFE He created us for hasn't even begun!

So as the spirits our Father has lovingly given life to, we need to remember “you are what you eat”. We know it’s a fact that our bodies either prosper or suffer based on what we feed them. Good mothers know how critical proper diet is to a properly developing fetus. But how many of us realize that it’s also a fact that the same is true for our developing spirits. The only difference between the developing fetus of flesh and the case of our eternal spirits is that we as individuals before the Lord have the choice to decide what we will feed them. It’s no less critical that we determine carefully what our spirits consume, in fact, it’s eternally critical. Everything that we watch, everything that we listen to, everything we read or engage in during this time of development is critical to our spiritual health. Does a good mother feed her developing baby a “little” rat poison? The answer is obvious. So why would we as the stewards of our souls before the Lord feed our own developing spirits things that our Father has warned us are poison? Things that the enemy makes so readily available.

Remember that the enemy of our souls is the one who's dishing out the world's values and compromising ways. Don't allow yourself to be lulled into accepting the "little things" that the rest of the world is willing to accept when you know what our Father's said about them. The changes and tweaks to what the world would have us accept or allow come just a little at a time so as to not be alarming. Because if we recognized them we would run away from them. If you're not sure that you know how to recognize them or what our Lord has indeed said, you need to be studying what He's said in His Word. It's in there! Even some things that those who claim to follow Christ allow today are called an "abomination" by the only one whose judgment counts. This is scriptural for the end times, so it's incredibly important that you know for yourself what our Lord has said.

Are you willing to bet your life that I'm wrong about the things I've told you here? Because when this life's over, you won't get another chance. This is the decision you make now. You might say "I'm saved and that's all that matters". But when the day comes, will you really know Him? Will the person you've become in the time He's allowed by grace be someone He's pleased with? Or will He even know you? How much are you willing to gamble with your eternity? We ARE eternal spirits with a choice to make. No question about it. We will exist beyond our time in this world. The only question .. is where. We are given by grace a measure of time, but when it's over, there are no re-dos. So what have we done with it so far? What are we going to do with the time we have left? The day is coming ...

If our Lord created us solely for the purpose of saving us, then being saved might be enough. But if you read His Word with understanding, you'll realize pretty quickly that His desire and intention goes far beyond that. He created us because He desires to have a relationship with us. He desires to know us and for us to know Him. He wants to experience life and interact with us, to be the perfect Father to us as His children. The time we have now is allowed to prepare and teach us to relate to Him. Will you use it? If not, will He know you when this brief moment in time here runs out? Are you willing to bet your eternal existence on it?

The world will at times strenuously disagree with you if you hold to our Gods values, but then who do you choose to spend eternity with? Those who disagree? They'll have their reward. They may even call you a "hater" because you refuse to accept what God in His sovereignty has determined to be sin. Because we hate sin as our Father does, does not mean that we hate the people who commit them any more than He does. But to accept or commit sin as something allowable flies in the face of what The Judge of all man kind has already said.The world doesn't like having it's great wisdom questioned and it may reject those who disagree with it. But if we have to choose knowing the outcome for each, what will our choice be? Now is the moment for that decision.

"Little things" could have big consequences when dealing with an unwavering, wholly righteous and sovereign God as we all will. Are they worth the chance?