If you read history books and stories from the days of walled cities with marching armies and such, you’ll find that many times a city that thought itself to be impenetrable was destroyed and captured because they left one small gate open or they didn’t properly seal off the place where a river or stream flowed under the wall, and invading armies came in through those breaches and were able to overpower the citizens and the defenders.
That is the way it is many times with Christians. We think “Oh yes, I read the Bible, I pray, I don’t do most of what the Bible tells me not to do, I live a mostly clean life. I’ll be fine!” And, we wonder why we slip and slide down the road to spiritual destruction. All the while it is because we wouldn’t give up a certain sin that attracted us or that we felt there wasn’t really anything wrong with – even though the Bible plainly says otherwise.
1 John 2:15-16 warn us, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” Most of the time, it is not some huge sin or disobedience that keeps us from truly knowing God and becoming more like Him, it is the little, seemingly unimportant things – yet the things that are wrong for us.
Satan uses this world around us to cripple and even destroy many a Christian. He makes everything looks so harmless and entertaining and attractive. We MUST keep ourselves from this world and carefully guard against even the smallest breaches into our lives. We must not allow even the smallest sins to continue unchecked and undestroyed.