BE A SPOILER, DON’T BE SPOILED

By Dr. Tom John

December 18, 2008

(COGAF News Article)  Although the light of the third millennium has dawned to our door steps several years ago, that light is darkened now by the clouds of economic crisis, concerns, questions and uncertainties of life to many people today.  Seeing what they see today before their very own eyes mixed feelings prevail in the hearts and minds of people around the globe. What does the future hold for the nations of the world?  What shall we face in our lives tomorrow? How shall we live each day of our lives in this ever changing world?  What is life like for us in the rest of the millennium? Questions like these or more can be asked, but in the midst of all, there is one thing to remember “Be in the world but not of this world.” 

“Be in the world, but not of this world,” is one of the Christian principles significant to life.  Knowing and following this principle is essential for Christian life, that one may live godly.  The time of a day may change, likewise the day of a week, a week of a month, a month of a year, a year of a century, and a century of a millennium; however, living godly has never been an option to any born again child of God.  To live godly, God’s people are told to live a different life style from those who are of the world.  God expects his people to be distinct and peculiar, therefore, He speaks through the prophet Isaiah saying, “Depart! Depart! Go out from there, touch no unclean thing; go out from the midst of her, be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord” ( Isa. 52:11).  Thus, obviously, God demands his people to live holy, ethical and righteous in the midst of this unholy, unrighteous, and perverse generation.

Biblical history reveals over and over again throughout the pages of the Bible that unless God’s people take a stand to live in accordance with the nature and character of God, they would eventually be spoiled.  God desires his people to be SPOILERS of the world, rather than be spoiled by its systems, philosophies, and values.  How can the children of God be SPOILERS of the world instead of being spoiled by it?  This can only be possible when God’s children follow and obey his commands and immutable principles for life and godliness.  An example of this is found in the book of Exdous.  God speaks through Moses saying,

“I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians: and it shall come to pass, that, when you go, you shall not go empty: But every woman shall borrow of her neighbor, and of that sojourneth in her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment; and you shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and you shall SPOIL the Egyptians” (Exo. 3:21,22).

How do the children of God go about spoiling the world for their best? It's by taking and focusing on only those things that are good for life and godliness.  The Israelites took for themselves those things God commanded them to take; thus they benefited from the Egyptians.  Because of  their obedience, the Israelites spoiled the Egyptians before they left for the promise land.  The promised land was full of promises and blessings, yet they didn’t ignore in spoiling the Egyptians. 

In the story, “the spoiling of  the Egyptians,” a lesson, that God is not against having material blessing, is learned.  He created the world and the fullness thereof for the use and benefit of his children, not for the spoil of the wicked.  The world has become unrighteous and wicked by the Fall--the disobedience of Adam and Eve.  The result of it is that the wealth of the world has come under the control of  the wicked.

However, God’s people are not to be intimidated by the wicked, for they can be SPOILERS of  the wicked benefiting those things that are GOOD for them.  Good and evil exist hand-in-hand in this present world.  Therefore, choosing good over evil is the smartest choice any person can make in his or her life.

There are choices to make every day in a person’s life.  This is a life long responsibility for everyone to keep.  Right choices, in life, would mean that a person is not only getting those things that are good for that person, from the world, but also that the person is a spoiler of the enemy of  his or her soul.  Who are we?  We are the children of God, who are created in the image of God to become BENEFACTORS of the blessings of this world.  Besides this, we are SPOILERS of  the work of the enemy, Satan, by right choices of our lives.  We are not to be SPOILED or LOST among the wrong crowd missing and lacking the blessings that are meant for us by wrong choices of life, rather to be found among the right crowd by right choices of life.

(To be continued . . .)

Dr. Tom John is the pastor of Church of All Nations in Tulsa, OK.

© 2008 COGAF News