I must not deny the therapeutic influence of the world. Of course I must take seriously the biblical warnings that “being the world’s friend is being God’s enemy” (James 4:4, Amp.). Yet the world offers me an opportunity to toughen my spiritual fiber if I use it properly.
The Israelites were to conquer Canaan “little by little” (Exodus 23:30). Victory was to be gradual so the people would not become too exalted or proud, and so they would not decimate their strength. That gives me a clue as to how I must relate to the world. I must use it as an opportunity to develop spiritual muscle, or else why all the training and discipline? Soldiers do not make themselves battle-ready only to enter a state of peace and rest! But in using the world for the proving of my battle-readiness, I must do it “little by little” in case the world proves too much for me, as it did for Israel.
Too often I am tempted to run from the world and hide. I fear its contamination and seduction. Bravo! I must never treat it with anything other than respect, for indeed it can contaminate and seduce. But Jesus confronted the world aggressively and defeated it (John 16:33). By His help I must do the same. I must dare the world to overcome the light that is in me (John 1:5); I must provoke it to look seriously at Jesus Christ and His claims (Colossians 1:28). I must always be on the offensive, never yielding to the world’s charms for an hour, but always pressing the battle into its own territory. That way I shall grow stronger “little by little” until Christ is known in an alien land. The world will be my “bread,” even as the Anakim were “bread” for Israel (Numbers 14:9, KJV), if only I do not “rebel” and “fear.”
“For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith” (1 John 5:4).
Daily with the King 