Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:17-18, “…be on your guard so that you are not carried away by the error of unprincipled men and fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.”
A lot of people spend so much time listening to the world, enjoying the delights and pleasures of the world, and being entertained by the media and doctrine of the world that they allow this world’s beliefs to control their lives more than they allow the truth of God’s Word to control and guide them. People don’t spend near as much time focusing on God, reading His Word, learning about His Son Jesus Christ and trying to follow Him as they spend focusing on other things.
I know people who are general walking encyclopedias when it comes to movies and television stuff, but when you talk about certain stories in the Bible or ask them to recall certain verse, they look at you blindly like a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming vehicle, and don’t know at all what you’re talking about.
There are thousands of people who claim to be Christians, yet their faith is not strong, they don’t really know what they believe or why they believe it, and they begin to doubt their true faith when questioned about it by non-believers. One day they think they have it all together, they believe the Bible and trust in God. But then, they read something in a book or hear something from a friend or co-worker and they begin to doubt.
If we are to truly come to know Jesus Christ in a way that is STRONG and SECURE, we have to FOCUS on HIM! We have to spend more time reading God’s Word and talking to Him in prayer. We can’t just give Him 15 – 20 minutes a day and give the rest of the day to the world and expect to grow in our Christian life, and expect to have a FIRM FOUNDATION.
There are many crafty and deceitful people out there who try to sway the world away from true faith in God. For most of them, THEY themselves don’t want to believe in God or TRULY follow Him, so they try to persuade others to not follow so closely as well. Misery loves company, and those who do not want to give their lives completely to Him would rather not see others enjoying the rewarding fruits of their geniune faith either – because it makes THEM look bad, so they try to pull others down with them.
“…we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;” (Ephesians 4:14)
We have to FOCUS our attention on HIM and daily draw closer to the One who loved us enough to send His Son to die for us! The ONLY way to stand firm in your faith is to grow in your faith and not allow the world and it’s false teachings to overwhelm us.