“Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?” (2 Cor. 6:14)

Do you know why so many people ‘in the world’ take a ‘hard pass’ on going to church and show little interest in the Christian’s gospel message? They’ve been living next door to so many of those who do and sadly...they don’t see much difference in their lives compared to their own, other than they go to church a lot. And being told that ‘Christians are not perfect – just forgiven’ does little to impress or woo them.

I shared a post last week trying to inform many in the body of Christ today that their overly passionate political leanings were actually counterproductive to leading ‘lost folks’ into God's kingdom. Jesus said that if ‘HE...was lifted up...that He would draw all men to Him’ (John 12:32) It would not hurt any of us to take pause from time to time and re-examine what message we are really sending out to others these days.

Assuming some are reading here today who would make no pretense to suggest they are ‘believers’...but are at least open to hearing more, may I applaud you for being here to at least examine for yourselves...if there is any truth to be found in what I’m sharing with you here. (Acts 17:11). But please know...should you come to a point where you too... open your heart up to your Creator and allow Him to reveal Himself to you, let me assure you - life will not continue to be ‘business as usual’; that...I can promise you.

I left off yesterday sharing how after I made that step myself...things began to change quickly and dramatically, and how I was about to learn Lesson # 2 from the Holy Spirit. And it had to do with my girlfriend at the time who was a puzzled, confused, and a tad distraught over what she saw happening to me in those early days of my ‘conversion’.

Yes...I started ‘church shopping’ and blindly at that. She was at least willing to tag along with me for a bit but that was it- "we can ‘go to church’ but we don’t need to talk about this all the time" was the message she was sending to me. It was beginning to dawn on me that this relationship might not last and I could see that... without even having come across that verse yet that I opened up with here today.

Then...it began to happen. Her and I had for some time by then, been engaging in acts of physical intimacy that God designed and intended to be shared by a man and a woman after they marry. Never...had it ever occurred to me that we were doing anything ‘wrong’ or ‘sinful’ , especially since neither of us were married (to other people). I at least knew the 7th Commandment (no adultery) and figured I was ‘in the clear’. But again...it wasn’t like I had ever thought twice about not being sexually intimate with my girlfriend who I cared deeply for.

And yet I was finding myself becoming 'uncomfortable' within... every time we ‘were together’ like that. I mean...I would become so  bothered that there was little pleasure anymore and I would usually find myself needing to retreat to a private place and cry and start praying and asking God what was wrong and happening to me. I should also point out here that at no time, had anyone confronted me about this, nor did Glen (the brother who led me to Christ) address this with me. I was coming under the conviction of the Holy Spirit that something I was doing...was displeasing God because I was losing that peace and joy I had come to know and walk in. (You can’t have both!)

Oddly enough, during this troubling time I was experiencing, I also found myself coming across a word frequently in my Bible reading, a word I had never seen before nor was I familiar with, and that word was 'fornication’. It had a way of just ‘jumping out’ at me when I came across it, and I remember one day asking my girlfriend if she knew what that word meant. She looked up and asked me ‘why?’ before telling me it means having sex with people you are not married to. Talk about having a ‘Light Bulb Moment’!

Once again...God had arrested my attention and was making it quite clear to me that what I was participating in was sinful and displeasing to Him and that I would need to lay this sin aside if I had any interest in continuing on in this walk with Him. That means to ‘repent...and do it no more’. Now I don’t recall being familiar with the story of the rich, young ruler at the time... who had come to Jesus seeking eternal life, but when he was confronted with an area in his life by Jesus... that he would need to lay aside if he had any hope of walking with Him, we are told he was grieved and turned and walked away (Matt. 19:22)

Friends, I won’t lie; I had my first serious thoughts about ‘getting off this bus’ because what was being asked of me was pretty steep and I just wasn’t sure I could go that far in obeying what I knew God was lovingly bringing to my attention. And there was some serious wrestling within, agonizing in coming to terms with what God was shedding light on in this area of my life. Why, I even remember trying to ‘negotiate’ with God and work out some ‘deal’ where I could keep both Him and my girlfriend happy. While loving and patient, God remained firm and unmoved. I had a choice to make, and there was no confusion in what I had to choose. This...is what it means when I talk about being ‘led by the Spirit’ and how God will begin to point out areas in our life that ‘need to go’ and be ‘removed from the land’’, just as the Israelites were being led to take possession of Canaan land back in the OT and there were some hostile ‘nations’ that needed to be dealt with and removed. (Deut. 7:1-6)

I had reached another impasse, a fork in the road, where I needed to choose life or death, blessing or cursing’ (Deut. 30:19-20) and it became quite apparent to me in that moment that this relationship I had with my girlfriend was about to come to an end. Light and darkness just don’t mix, nor does oil and water, etc. It’s one thing to lay aside smoking weed or other petty things that no longer seem important to you; but when it comes to people you love and care about...Jesus makes it no secret...that HE...is to be loved first and foremost...and IF...we love Him, we will do what He says (John 14:15). You might as well know this before you even ‘get on the bus’ because nobody is going to change God’s mind on what it means to follow Him. You might finish up today reading from Luke 14:25-33. Tomorrow, I’ll finish up this part of the story and tell you how that played out when I told my girlfriend that we would have to stop this ‘messing around’...since we were not married. It was not a pretty scene for either of us.