BQ: What do you do if you're around those still captive to Satan and they're busy engaging in things that are evil? It's often tempting for us to think, "Man, I've got this. I won't stoop to that level," but what advice does God give us?
A: "A prudent man sees evil and hides himself, The naive proceed and pay the penalty. (Pro 27:12) 1 Cor 15:33 says the same, "Do not be deceived: "Bad company corrupts good morals."
When we lead ourselves to believe that we're impervious to spiritual danger, we only expose ourselves as being naive. Instead of choosing bad company, choose to hang around with those who will make you stronger!
BQ: There's a book by Dr. Seuss called, "Marvin K. Mooney Will You Please Go Now?" It has lines like, "The time has come, the time is now, Marvin K. Mooney will you please go now?" God has a similar plea to us throughout the Bible. People always want to delay putting off worldliness, yet God always asks that we do it soon! Why? Because,
"Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 14 Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." (James 4:13-14)
Putting off changing assumes that we'll always have time to change in the future, but we don't know which moment will be the last future moment for us. Old, dead sinner, will you please go now?
BQ: Sometimes people become Christians and then decide that they can indulge in some bad habits, especially if they're not "too bad," as long as they don't go back into sinning "hardcore." How does God feel about this?
A: "But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?" (Gal 4:9)
When we start that downhill slide, it's showing a desire to be enslaved again by Satan, so it's critical to not even step foot on that slippery slope.
BQ: As a Christian, it's important to not return to worldliness. God's chosen people, the Israelites, repeatedly did this in the Old Testament, leading God to say such things as, "You too have done evil, even more than your forefathers; for behold, you are each one walking according to the stubbornness of his own evil heart, without listening to Me." (Jer 16:12)
Often when we return to worldliness, it's a sign of our own stubbornness, which is a shame, because we could be stubborn for God as opposed to against Him. God always reminds us to avoid evil, and He explains that going back to the world after finding Him is a chancy thing to do. "For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world by the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and are overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first." (2 Pet 2:20) When you play with fire, it's easy to get burned. The "oh duh, Lucas," solution is not to play with fire at all!
BQ: We've looked at slipping back into worldliness, and 2 Tim 3:13 is actually very much related to this sort of topic. It says, "But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."
At first glance, this is only talking about evil men and fakes, right? The thing is, when we claim to be Christian, yet act like the world, what exactly does that make us? Yep! Fakes. Impostors. We end up both deceiving and being deceived, instead of edifying others and being edified. God ends up describing this sort of person as one whose "silver has become dross," whose "drink diluted with water." (Is 1:22)
We all need to be very careful to avoid being cheap imitations of the real thing!
"For the entire Law is fulfilled in in this one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."—Gal 5:14