As a Christian, you should avoid anything that would compromise your relationship with Jesus.  That includes entering into a relationship, business deal, or any other association that would tempt you to lower your standards or discredit your integrity.  When you team up with someone who does not love and fear the Lord, that relationship can dramatically weaken your spiritual health.

God does not want us to avoid all interaction with nonbelievers.  Jesus himself spent time with the “sinners” and social outcasts of his day in order to share the message of salvation.  God just wants us to keep from being so closely connected to unbelievers that it ultimately affects our faith and behavior, tempting us to compromise our witness for obedience to God.

Although outwardly you may appear to be the same person, when you received Christ you underwent a radical heart transplant.  You literally become a “new person” (or “creation”) inside.  This short passage of Scripture highlights some encouraging points as you endeavor to be obedient to God.

• As “new creations,” Christ love compels us to please God rather than ourselves.
• As “new creations,” we can look beyond the “packaging” of a person to what is inside.
• As “new creations,” we have become altogether different people.
• As “new creations,” we have been given a clean slate, a fresh start, and a new nature.

The new nature you have received is like a tender little flower.  It takes time and effort to cultivate. You may find it hard at times to obey God and leave certain old habits behind at first.  But as you cultivate that new nature by spending more time with God through activities like prayer and Bible study, you will notice changes as the weeks, months and years go by.

A man from India was heard to compare our new spiritual nature and our old selfish one to two dogs constantly fighting with each other.  He went on to say that he could determine which dog would win.  When asked how he determined which dog won, his response was, “The one I feed the most, of course.”  When you take time to “feed” your new spiritual nature (as you are doing right now), you give it the edge in this ongoing conflict between good an evil.

Some people teach that when we die we go into a state of suspended animation.  Then later on we are called into the presence of God.  But this passage clearly explains that when a believer dies, he or she will go directly to heaven to “be at home with the Lord.”  This is illustrated in at least two other instances in Scripture:

1. The Thief on the Cross. As Jesus was being crucified, a thief hanging on a cross next to him asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus entered his Kingdom.  To this request, Jesus replied, “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:40-43).

2. The Apostle Paul. The apostle Paul wrote, “I long to go and be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23).  He didn’t say, “I long to depart and be suspended in a soul sleep for a few thousand years.” Paul understood better than most this truth about entering heaven, because he had already had a glimpse of heaven.  It is possible that when Paul was stoned, he died and entered the presence of the Lord.  But God still had work for Paul to do on earth, so he sent Paul pack to carry it out (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).

The moment you take your last breath on earth, you will take your first breath in heaven.  So don’t be afraid of death.  Instead, enjoy your life in Christ on earth, and spend the rest of your time here introducing others to the one with whom you will spend eternity.

Ever since Satan lost his privileges and was cast to this earth, he has been using his abilities to appose the work that God has been seeking to accomplish.  Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians reveals at least three of Satan’s abilities:

1. He Is the God of This World. This becomes more evident as you survey the increasing wickedness around you.  While Christ conquered sin and death at the cross, this world is still flawed and evil.  But Satan will lose his reign in this world when Christ returns to establish his Kingdom on earth.

2. Be Blinds the Minds of Unbelievers. According to this text, Satan wants to keep those who do not have a relationship with God from coming to God. The unbelieving mind has a difficult time understanding the message of the gospel because Satan has darkened or blinded that person’s mind.  Yet Christ can break that barrier (2 Timothy 2:24-26).

3. He Is a Master Counterfeiter. One of Satan’s greatest abilities is deception.  He is good at making lies look like truth. Paul describes Satan as someone who disguises himself as an angels of light (2 Corinthians 11:14).  That is, he fools people by making them think the lies he offers are truth.  His lies take on various forms, such as cults and false doctrines.  But we can discern the difference between truth and error when we test them against what is found in God’s Word.

The apostle Paul penned these words from personal experience.  He had seen his share of suffering over the years – particularly for the sake of the gospel for Jesus Christ.  He was thrown into prison on more than one occasion, but he continued to praise God and share his faith in Christ.   He was shipwrecked, abandoned by former friends, pelted by stones, and left for dead.  His faith, however, remained firm. Why? Because he learned to draw his comfort from the Lord.  This then enabled him to be a greater source of comfort to those around him.

The next time someone ridicules or rejects you because of you r commitment to Christ, remember Paul’s words.  You do not need to fear trials in your life.  No matter how great a hardship you face, realize that Jesus will comfort and strengthen you.  In turn, you will be better equipped to comfort those around you who suffer the same hardships.

This passage gives one of the most complete descriptions of love in the Bible.  More importantly, it shows that love needs to be the one thing in life we seek more than anything else.  Without it, whatever we do or say really has no lasting value. Compare the love described here with superficial love found in the world.

- God says love should be directed toward others (verses 1-3).  The world says love should be directed toward ourselves.
- God says love is patient and kind (verse 4). The world says love satisfies your immediate needs.
- God says love is never jealous or envious (verse 4).  The world says love means that you deserve the “best.”
- God says love is never boastful or proud (verse 4).  The world says love isn’t necessary to make people respect you.
- God says love is never rude (verse 5).  The world says love lets you act as you please.
- God says love does not demand its own way (verse 5).  The world says love gets in the way of what’s in it for me.
- God ways love is not irritable or touchy, and it holds no grudges (verse 5).  The world says love takes a backseat when it comes to seeking revenge.
- God says love rejoices in justice and truth (verse 6).  The world says love understands – even ignores – evil.
- God says love is loyal (verse 7).  The world says love should be self-serving.

The kind of love God wants you to give others is impossible to “manufacture” on our own.  You might say that it is a “supernatural” love.  It is a natural outflow of God’s presence in our lives.  That is why the Bible says, “[God] has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love” (Romans 5:5).

If you fell your love for others is falling short of God’s ideal, ask the Holy Spirit to strengthen you in this area.  Your relationships with others will never be the same.

The apostle Paul used this illustration of the physical body to drive home an important point: Every single person has a vital role to play in the body of Christ.  That means God has a specific purpose for you to carry out in your local church, and it is up to you to fill that purpose, with God’s help.  This passage explains why this is so important.

The Church Consists of Different People With Different Roles. When God designed the church, he did not intend for its members to be “Christian clones.” Instead, he chose to use various groups and spiritual gifts found throughout the church to bring attention to the person who unifies us; Jesus Christ (Ephesians 3:10-11).  When the church operates as God intended, it serves as a powerful witness to a watching world.

No One Person Is More Valuable than Another. No gift of the Holy Spirit is “better” than another.  Therefore, each individual has a special place of significance within the body of Christ.  Even though your role may not seem as visible as others – for instance, God may be using you to visit convalescent homes while someone else leads a Bible study – your role is just as vital.

We Need One Another to Function as God Intended. If you fail to use the special gifts and abilities God has given you, you do a disservice to the church.  God wants you to realize the importance of working together and building friendships with other committed Christians.  One could liken the church to a group of coals burning brightly together.  Each coal not only emanates its own heat, but also helps keep the others hot, benefiting from their warmth as well.   If you were to isolate one of those coals from the others, it would only be a matter of time until its heat dissipated.  The same holds true for us as believers.  We need one another to function as individuals and as the body of Christ.

God realizes that we as humans will be tempted by one things or another in this world.  Fortunately for us, God cares so deeply about us that he has taken action to help us through times of temptation.  This verse provides two rays of hope for when you are tempted:

1. Jesus Understands Your Situation. Any temptation you are facing or will face has been faced before.  Better yet, Jesus understands what it is like to be tempted, for the Bible teaches that he can sympathize with us, “for he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

2. God Will Always Give You the Strength to Get Through the Temptation. When you face temptation, God will always give you the power to resist it or give you a way to escape it.  Sometimes the way out of temptation is literal.  For instance, if you are at the movie theater and an explicit sexual scene appears on the screen, the way of escape means walking out of the theater.   At other times, it may mean relying on God’s Holy Spirit to give you the power to resist.

The next time you are tempted or tested, remember this: God will allow hardship in the life of the Christian, but it will always be filtered through the screen of his love.  He will never give you more than you can handle.