If You Can’t Beat Them
They say, “If you can’t beat them, join them.”
WRONG.
Wrong, wrong, WRONG.
I can’t emphasize enough how much I disagree with this statement, and yet how many times I myself have done exactly that. When EVERYONE in your world is making poor choices and despite your best efforts to convince them to stop, they persist, the temptation is to throw your hands up and join them. Don’t.
I can’t tell you what to do and I won’t dignify this statement with an exclamation point because no matter how emphatically I urge you to not join the crowd, the decision and the consequences of that decision will belong to you.
“When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.”
Japanese Proverb
“You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”
Jim Rohn
“Do not be deceived: ‘Evil company corrupts good habits.”
1 Corinthians 15:33 NKJV
“Enter by the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” - Jesus
Matthew 7:13-14
Whether you are listening to philosophers, self-help experts, the apostle Paul or Jesus Himself in the gospels, the evidence is clear, you will be influenced by those you associate with. I cannot speak to the lives of anyone else, but I have personally been influenced in both good and bad ways by the company I have chosen to keep.
Sadly I have watched many people with good intentions slowly compromise their integrity on account of friendships and the consequences for many have resulted in poor health, poor mental health, decreased sensitivity to truth in scripture, broken marriages, addiction and chemical dependence and more. It is usually a very slow progression that inevitably leads to death. It is a decaying process much like a rotting tooth. It’s not the first time you go to sleep with sugar on your enamel that causes a cavity, it is the process of decay that happens over time when you do not treat your teeth properly.
I’m reminded of the parable of the boiling frog. The idea is that if a frog is suddenly put into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out. If that same frog is put in tepid water which is very slowly brought to a boil, it will not perceive the danger and will inevitably be cooked to death.
Many of the concerning things in our society have been introduced so slowly over the past few decades that the majority of people do not perceive the danger or realize that we are slowly but surely being cooked to death at the hands of an unseen enemy.
When we are introduced to the serpent who represents satan and his demons in Genesis 3:1, we see how innocently his deception begins.
“Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?”’
Genesis 3:1
“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”
2 Corinthians 11:3
He is so clever. He hides in plain sight. He deceives us in ways that seem SO innocent. He calls things that are wrong, right. He calls things that are bad, good. He causes us question what is clearly good and disguises what is harmful as beneficial.
“And no wonder! For satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light.”
2 Corinthians 11:14 (NKJV)
If I hear one more young person tell me:
That they “cannot sleep” without weed or edibles….
That there is nothing wrong with pornography….
That they “drink responsibly”....even though they are under age
That they know their friend is trouble, but….
That “I’ll probably die of diabetes but I love sugar”...
The other day I woke up again burdened by the ignorance and rebellion of people and seeking the LORD for what I can say to affect change and He reminded me of something He has said to me many times…
One anointed word (one word spoken as God prompts) can change a life forever,
Ten THOUSAND words that are true, but not anointed can keep a life from changing.
As you are praying for this generation of frogs that are slowly being boiled, begin with putting on the full armor of God in your own life.
“Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.”
Ephesians 6:11 NKJV
Be a doer of the Word, not a hearer only.
“But be a doer of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. Be he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
James 1:22-25 NKJV
As YOU discover how to disarm ignorance with wisdom and forsake rebellion in favor of obedience, your life will become a shining example of what life in Christ SHOULD look like. You cannot expect anyone else to get out of the pot if you prop your arms up on the rim and make yourself at home.