This is in response to a comment from Linda on my blog post: In the World or of the World.

Numbers 25:1-3: While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

2 Corinthians 6:14: Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?

Revelation 2:14: There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality.

All through the Old Testament and the New Testament, even into the book of Revelation, God, through the prophets and apostles, frequently warned his people about allowing ungodly and worldly influences to pull them away from him and their faith. Anyone familiar with the story of Israel as recounted in the Old Testament can confirm that those warnings often went unheeded, bringing judgment upon them.

It seems that many in this present generation have turned the doctrine of grace into a license to sin, since forgiveness is just a breath away. They live careless, reckless lives believing that grace forms an invincible net to catch them whenever they fall. They fail to consider the tremendous impact the world is making in their lives and they are unaware of the awful price they will pay for their spiritual adultery.

We must return to lives of holiness and the message of holiness. This is a facet of grace omitted in Christian circles today: grace to not only forgive past sin, but grace to cleanse from present sin and grace to empower godly living.

SO, what do we do?

1. We need to lead the way and set the example. We must not underestimate the power of a godly lifestyle to make an impact on others.
2. We need to help swing the pendulum back toward a balanced Biblical viewpoint by reemphasizing holiness and holy living. 
3. We need to constantly monitor the effect the world is having on us, and make spiritual adjustments where necessary (repentance, refusing bad influences, etc.). 
4. We need to reconsider the role of the spiritual disciplines in maintaining spiritual health (Bible reading and study, prayer, meditation, fasting, etc.)
5. We need to be more observant of family and friends, seeking to encourage and exhort them when we see warning signs of approaching dangers.
6. We must not underestimate the power of our human nature to explain away, excuse, or otherwise justify compromising, worldly thinking or behavior. 
7. We need to be “filled with the Spirit”, who will empower us to live lives that please our Lord.

The words of an old hymn come to mind as I consider the struggle we face (and yes, Linda, it is, and has always been, a hard struggle). 

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
I’ll praise the mount I’m fixed upon it
Mount of thy redeeming love

Here I raise my Ebenezer
Hither by thy help I come
And I hope by thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, O take and seal it, seal it for thy courts above.