by David Gibson<\/p>\n
All around us are all kinds of bizarre behavior, sinful lifestyles, and strange ideas that currently trouble our land. How shall we respond?<\/p>\n
Some Christians, sad to say, gaze at the evil and are drawn into it. How easy it is to find our resistance gradually being lowered by the constant exposure to sins that once shocked us! God’s people in the Old Testament were vulnerable to being swallowed up by the sins of their neighbors. It can so easily happen to us too! (I Corinthians 10:12; Ephesians 4:17-24; II Timothy 4:10).<\/p>\n
On the other hand, while we may never indulge in the blatant sins of our society, we may be tempted to look down on those who do. We may forget that we too are in need of the grace of God and that we have something positive to offer those who are mired in sinful lifestyles (Luke 15:1-2, 25-32; 18:9-14).<\/p>\n
A third reaction is thinking that the situation is so far gone that there’s little we can do to make a difference. It’s been well said that the darker the world, the brighter our light is. Let it shine! (Philippians 2:15).<\/p>\n
So how shall we respond to the evils of our day? Not by participating in them, not by reacting self-righteously, and not by withdrawing into inactivity.<\/p>\n
So what shall we do? The letter we call First Peter has much to offer us. Christians then were struggling to maintain their integrity in a dark world in much the same way we do today. Peter urges his readers to maintain holy lives (I Peter 1:14-16; 4:1-4) and live in such a way that unbelievers can’t help but notice the difference (I Peter 2:11-12; 3:1-2, 16).<\/p>\n
By the grace of God, let’s hate sin but have enough concern for sinners so that they too will be drawn out of the darkness and into God’s wonderfully marvelous light!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by David Gibson All around us are all kinds of bizarre behavior, sinful lifestyles, and strange ideas that currently trouble our land. How shall we respond? Wrong Reaction: Acceptance Some Christians, sad to say, gaze at the evil and are drawn into it. How easy it is to find our resistance gradually being lowered by…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[38],"class_list":["post-96926","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-morality"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4364,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/action-and-reaction\/","url_meta":{"origin":96926,"position":0},"title":"Actions and Reactions","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 17, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Luke 6:20-36 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How should you act? How should you react? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We live in a \u201cme first\u201d age. People demand their rights. They seek to get even when wronged. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But let me tell you about a radical view of life II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Actions - Luke 6:27-28 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Love\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24348,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-everyone-expecting-me-to-be-perfect-when-im-not\/","url_meta":{"origin":96926,"position":1},"title":"Why is everyone expecting me to be perfect when I’m not?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 20, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How can I deal with the criticism of my friends and my own family when sometimes I get annoyed and a little angry. They always say something like, \"You're a Christian and you are acting like that?\" or \"You're supposed to be holy and you are acting like that?\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8761,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/anger\/","url_meta":{"origin":96926,"position":2},"title":"Anger","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 31, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton There are many misconceptions about anger in our world. The misunderstandings do not come from a lack of experience with anger. Far too many people have never attempted to control their rage. They have daily experience with anger. The misconceptions about anger come from taking extreme\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/08\/Anger.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":57521,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-meant-by-christ-died-for-our-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":96926,"position":3},"title":"What is meant by “Christ died for our sins?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible says that Christ died for our sins. Does this mean that he died for the forgiveness of our sins? Answer: \"For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures\" (I Corinthians 15:3). The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29737,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-christ-died-for-our-sins-do-we-have-any-responsibility-to-give-up-sins\/","url_meta":{"origin":96926,"position":4},"title":"Since Christ died for our sins, do we have any responsibility to give up sins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been telling people that, though I fully accept that Jesus sacrificed Himself for our sake and that He also died because of our sins.\u00a0 People tell me that He only died for our sins, and I find this confusing because in my mind mentally, verbally, and physically\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13413,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-there-a-distinction-between-forgiveness-and-redemption\/","url_meta":{"origin":96926,"position":5},"title":"Is there a distinction between forgiveness and redemption?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: First, I must say that your web site is fantastic!\u00a0 There is much cool stuff here that I wish I had more time to read. At Bible class last night, the issue of forgiveness vs. redemption and taking away sin came up.\u00a0 The issue, and my question, is whether\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96926\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}