the leaders have no concept at all as to what it means to be a born- again child of God. They erron eously feel that they need no church. Be very careful with such involvement. The discrepancies of such systems can be seen when you examine them in the light of the teachings of the Word of God. Then, too, we should not be long to anything where our Chris tian behavior has to be compro mised. Paul talks of this in Eph. 5: 1-11. We are to be "imitators of God as His beloved children". We are to live a Christ-like life no mat ter where we are. This Epistle tells us to guard against becoming soci ally involved with unbelievers to the point of sharing their sinful practices and desires. We are to have no fellowship "with the un fruitful works of darkness". We have been called to purity! Deeds of kindness and mercy are always appropriate in the Christian life. We are to demonstrate God's love and the quality of life that belongs to us in Christ. All that we do, in whatever the sphere of our in volvement, we are to seek to glor ify the Lord. It is never right to compromise either your Biblical fa ith or your sp ir itu a lly moral standards. Vance Havner observes, "If we Christians are the salt of the earth then we ought to remember that the only way salt can do any good is by being brought in con tact with whatsoever it was meant to affect. We call it involvement nowadays. We Christians can be come so clannish that we lose con tact with the very world that we were meant to win. As Christians, we have our own schools, our own recreation centers, our own hotels, even our own insurance com
panies. All of this is good, but we can run clear off the reservation, and forget that we are the light of the world, and the light is always needed in a dark place. Instead of the salt permeating the world around us, we can be content to sit in our salt cellars on Sunday morning, far removed from the needy and the decaying humanity. But if you have to compromise your Christian faith as to what you belong to, or where you go, or what you say, or what you do, then be very, very careful about your Christian life! Questionable Activities It is wonderful to realize that through the indwelling power of Cod's Holy Spirit the believer does have the means to overcome real problems and dilemmas of daily living. We must, first of all, face up to our real needs in order to see that our only hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is a fact that the measure of our discord with the world is the measure of our ac cord with the Saviour. While there are important areas of involvement for us in the world, we must use great care that we do not go in violation to the Word of God, and in any way compromise our stand. As Christians we are to be particu larly and peculiarly concerned with the needs of those about us. The Bible gives us good direction in these areas. In Luke 10 we find the account of the Good Samaritan. He was not blind to the destitute con dition of his brother in the human race. God will always work in a remarkable way as the believer moves out in society. Social in volvement is sanctioned in Scrip ture.
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