God told Moses that He will bring
the Israelites into the Promised Land and that He will destroy all
the inhabitants living there now. Why will He destroy them? Because
they were evil in His sight and they worshiped detestable gods. And
how will He destroy them? He will destroy them through the
Israelites. They were to go into the Promised Land and not make any
treaties with the people and they had to totally conquer them and
destroy all their gods. They were not allowed to let these people
live among them lest they turn their hearts away from God.
"You must serve only the Lord your
God. If you do, I will bless you with food and water and I will
keep you healthy." Exodus 24:25
God wanted them to serve Him only
and to have nothing to do with those living in the land at that
time. In fact He ordered them to totally destroy them.
Today as Christians we also live
amongst the 'Canaanites' of old, people who are evil and who
worship modern idols and gods. And we should learn a lesson from
what God told the Israelites to do. He said they should not mix
with them and they should not worship their idols. Now today we are
not at liberty to destroy them as He told the Israelites they
should, as we know that judgment is Jesus', not ours. But we need
to make sure that we don't mix with them.
Now let me explain what I mean by
not mixing. The Bible teaches us to love our enemies and do good to
them, that means the 'Canaanites' of our society too. We should
live by example and we should preach the gospel to them when the
time is right. We work and live amongst them and we should be an
example to them. Paul states this clearly:
"You must live in a manner worthy
of the Good News about Christ, as citizens of heaven." Philippians
1:27
But, the Bible clearly states that
we should choose our friends wisely and we should marry to fellow
believers, because if we don't, the chances are that they would
drag us down and not the other way around. It is much easier to
pull someone standing on a wall from the wall, than to
pull someone up a wall. We can easily be influenced by
them.
I found that to be so true in my
own life. I worked alongside many unbelievers and at a time I not
only worked with them, but I hang out with them after work too. We
became close friends and after a while my morale started slipping.
I started to think that the worldly things that they were doing
were okay and not so bad. It didn't touch me as much as it used to,
and you know what, my relationship with God deteriorated. It was
only when I took another job that I realized how much they had
influenced me instead of the other way around. And you can see it
with the Israelites too. We all know how they didn't destroy all
the Canaanites in the land and how they allowed them to influence
them, so much so that the Israelites started to worship their gods
instead of the only true God and King! And that was their
downfall.
We need to choose our friends and
spouse wisely. A believer and an unbeliever cannot pull at the same
yoke together, some time or another they will influence your
relationship with God and that is not worth it. Let the unbeliever
see God in your life and if they repent and become a believer too,
wonderful! But if they decide that the world and what it offers is
too alluring for them make sure that you don't spend too much time
with them. Remember, we are from this world, but we are not of it.
We are citizens of heaven and we need to act like it.
Father, thank you for all the
unbelievers You place in our paths to share the Gospel with. But
help us to discern when we should mix with them and share the
Gospel and when not to. You are infinitely wise and thank you that
we can trust You to help us. In Jesus' Name. Amen