Forsaking All Enticements The World Offers

Over the past millennia, human society has invented new ways to distract its members. As human beings, our world is full of enticements and distractions. Yet, you may be oblivious to any of the temptations or enticements holding you captive. If you want to know the litmus test to determine what is enticing you, look at what behaviours, habits, or desires hinder you in either your physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual health. Continue reading to learn how to begin forsaking all enticements that may come your way.

Don’t Entertain Any Bad Habit

Before continuing on how to forsake the enticements of the world, you must be able to identify what they are. There must first be a diagnosis before there is a treatment.

And, you must first be confident in your relationship with God. Too often, do I hear people claim to have a good relationship with God yet not know who is God. But, to clear all misunderstandings, let’s set the record straight.

The God of the Bible knew how all humans sin. Therefore, no one is fit to enter Heaven as Heaven is only for those who haven’t sinned.

So, God came down in the flesh as Lord Jesus Christ with a ministry of healing, deliverance, and more. Yet, jealous religious leaders decided to pressure the ancient Roman government to crucify Lord Jesus Christ.

But, it was God’s plan to let Himself, Lord Jesus Christ, suffer humanity’s punishment for sin on the cross. In this way, God transferred His righteousness to those who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour.

Therefore, accept Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour.

Romans 10:9 King James Version (KJV)
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Moving on, in the case of distractions or enticements, one can identify it by seeing how its nature affects you. If you notice that behaviour, habit, or idea comes in-between you and Lord Jesus, then, get rid of it.

Matthew 5:30 World English Bible (WEB)
30 If your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, and throw it away from you. For it is more profitable for you that one of your members should perish, than for your whole body to be cast into Gehenna.[a]

In fact, Lord Jesus Christ said in the above scripture, to cut off whatever causes you to stumble. So, when you see a sinful behaviour or an act of the flesh within your lifestyle, forsake it. Now, when Lord Jesus Christ said to cut off one’s hand if it causes one to stumble, He did not literally mean amputating a God-given part of your body. He just meant to immediately get rid of any sinful behaviour immediately.

Crucified with Christ for a Reason

This means that if you see drug addiction within your life, then, stop it, pray to Lord Jesus Christ, and seek the proper help. I also talk about addiction in this post. If you see a tendency to get angry very easily within your life, then, stop it, ask Lord Jesus Christ the grace to come out of it, and seek His counsel through the Holy Bible.

Start forsaking whatever appears to be against the nature of God within your life. That’s why the Bible says to flee anything so as long as it appears to be evil.

1 Thessalonians 5:22-24 King James Version (KJV)
2Abstain from all appearance of evil.
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
24 Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.

Flee all appearances of evil!

Furthermore, the Bible makes it clear to have a fear of the Lord. I talk more about the fear of God in this post. And the main thing to know about the fear of the Lord is that it is when one respects God enough to know that he/she ought not to do certain things which displease Him.

When you honour God with your entire being, you know that He loves you and by nature, it hurts you to hurt God. Since you love God, prioritize Him over all things. If He says not to hold unforgiveness towards anyone, then, start forgiving. Or if He says we ought to be kind to others because God is kind to us, then, start showing kindness to those around you.

The bottom line is that when you have the fear of the Lord, His love develops a desire within you to please Him through whatever you do. And to get that fear of the Lord, you should ask Him for it.

Proverbs 1:7 World English Bible (WEB)
The fear of Yahweh[a] is the beginning of knowledge;
    but the foolish despise wisdom and instruction.

Forsaking all Enticements

In conclusion, stay away from evil because you know that God loves you and you should make it your utmost priority to do what pleases Him. If there’s something that pleases you but displeases God, then cut it off, because, it will not benefit you.

Rather, do what is good and what you know is not going to hurt you physically, mentally, emotionally, or spiritually.

1 Corinthians 6:19 World English Bible (WEB)
19 Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

So, make it a constant habit to start forsaking everything you do which ain’t right.

We’re all not perfect, but as children of God, it should be our goal to focus on Lord Jesus Christ and begin forsaking every evil that distracts us.

Hebrews 12:2 King James Version (KJV)
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The scripture above perfectly summarizes what ought to be our mindset concerning worldly distractions and temptations. What the above scripture means is that we should fix our eyes on Lord Jesus Christ because He fixed His eyes on the joy set before Him. His joy was to see us saved, blessed, redeemed, and His as He suffered the pain of the cross.

Remember that you were crucified with Christ and that whatever distracts you now has no foothold on you because Lord Jesus Christ already defeated every temptation on the cross.

Galatians 2:20 King James Version (KJV)
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

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Seeing Everyone As Opportunities to Bless

The big question of the day, or rather… this post, is how do you see people? How we see people determines a lot about what others see in us. That is why I making the goal of this post to convince you to start seeing everyone as opportunities to bless. You will see improvements in your life, in your relationships, in your reputation, and more, if you take this wisdom to heart.

Distorted Perspectives

The first thing you ought to know is that our perspective on others may indicate something about us. If you’re really honest with yourself, you’d see how easy it is to judge others, to rely upon baseless biases, and more.

The point is that we’re not perfect. And the last thing we should do is claim to be perfect. We’ve been trained by our culture, by our family, by our traditions, and more, to think in ways which don’t make sense.

Mark 7:9 World English Bible (WEB)
He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

Now, the Bible is pretty clear on the cost of such worldly traditions, too.

Proverbs 14:12 World English Bible (WEB)
12 There is a way which seems right to a man,
    but in the end it leads to death.

Did you catch that? If you didn’t, let me point it out to you. The scripture above states that the ways of man which seem right, lead unto death.

That’s a bit frightening. And it is as true as it is terrifying. The wrong thinking and the wrong perspective can lead you in the direction opposite to the blessings and life which God has in plan for you.

Racism is an all-too-common example of the ramifications brought upon mankind when a deadly mindset is accepted.

Racism is a way in which arrogant people view others as inferior due to a difference in skin colour, and so, this mindset leads to the mistreatment of others as well as the darkening of one’s own soul. And racism surely has led to death every single time it’s been accepted by human beings.

A manipulator who cheats on their spouse is another example of distorted perspectives. When one sees people as opportunities to please one’s self and doesn’t understand the value of faithfulness, their life is headed towards destruction.

A Transformation of Perspective

So, there needs to be a shift in the way you think. For so long, we have based our values, perspectives, and ideals on what our world has given us.

But, the Bible clearly points out that the world’s standard of good is not God’s ideal. Our world was never supposed to be based on slogans like “survival of the fittest,” or “winning the rat race.”

We were never supposed to view other people as subjects of manipulation or exploitation. The thought of taking advantage of vulnerable people never came across the most precious mind of God.

Yet, it’s a thought that repeats itself within the minds of those who embrace the world’s standard of good. That is why there is so much corruption, injustice, and evil that persists in every nation.

Romans 5:12 World English Bible (WEB)
12 Therefore as sin entered into the world through one man, and death through sin; so death passed to all men, because all sinned.

But instead, how does God want us to treat people?

Mark 9:35 King James Version (KJV)
35 And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.

Lord Jesus Christ said we ought to serve others, to love them, and to treat them well. This doesn’t mean we need to be a doormat for others to exploit. Instead, Lord Jesus means that we’re supposed to respect and love others as God loves us.

How do you know that God loves you? He showed His love to you on the cross. God came down in the flesh as Lord Jesus Christ and people hated His ministry of compassion, so, they, with all the religious teachers decided to crucify Him.

Seeing Everyone as Opportunities to Bless

Yet, this was all part of God’s plan so that through Him bearing your punishment, you would no longer suffer hell because of His sacrifice. Therefore, you only need to accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour as a way of accepting His love as well as transformative grace.

Romans 10:9-10 King James Version (KJV)
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

I talk more about God’s salvation plan for humanity in this post.

Ask God for the grace to start seeing everyone as opportunities to bless. God calls us to be generous, to give unto the poor, to always be helpful to those who are in need of aid, and more.

We ought to follow the example of Christ. There should not be any hint of selfishness as selfishness is what leads people to throw others under the bus for their own benefit.

John 13:15 World English Bible (WEB)
15 For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.

Furthermore, we were all headed down the path to God’s fierce judgment and wrath as God is holy and must rightfully punish people like us for the things we’ve done wrong. However, God is a God of love. He decided to let Himself be destroyed that we may be made alive.

Therefore, place your faith in the finished work of Lord Jesus Christ. Diligently read the Bible and see Christ’s example to us as we learn to serve others and be a blessing to everyone we meet. Fix your eyes upon Lord Jesus; you’ll start seeing everyone as opportunities to bless.