How Comfy Are You?
by Malcolm Wood
Over recent months our attention has been focussed on the pandemic, its spread, the fight against it, its consequences in every area of our lives and what the future may look like. Much good has come out of these extremely difficult circumstances, such as the way individuals and communities have come together and supported one another. However, our eyes may have been taken off the way the enemy is still at work in bringing fear, mistrust, anxiety, anger, and rebellion into people’s lives. It seems that Satan is using this present crisis to strengthen his arsenal of weapons. He is trying to undermine all that is good and wholesome and disrupt the stability of society.
We don’t have to look far to see that pride, selfishness, injustice, corruption, perversions, immorality, abuse and deceptions are on the increase. The evidence points to the end of the age drawing near (see 2 Timothy 3:1-5). Some have called it the ‘erosion of the fabric of our Judeo-Christian heritage’, which many countries have been built upon for centuries.
We see it continually portrayed in all forms of media and entertainment. As Christians, we need to be on our guard against the danger of being sucked into a state of spiritual anaesthesia where we accept this as the ‘norm’ and become comfortable with it. We are continually being drip fed lies, distortion and deception of the things that are true, good and wholesome.
Surely Christians should become increasingly more uncomfortable with those things going on around them. Jesus reminds us that we are no longer of this world and that He chose us to come out of it (John 15:19). We can look forward to that day when we are removed from the world, but, in the meantime, we need to take notice of what the apostle Peter says, ‘Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls’ (1 Peter 2:11, NLT).
In these darkening days we need to be looking to the Lord for daily help, strength and discernment, as we stand firm on the truth of His word and His promises and seek to do what Paul encourages his readers to do. ‘Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people’ (Philippians 2:15b, NLT).
Now, as never before, we must boldly declare the truth of the Word of God wherever and however we can, as the prophets of old did when they were surrounded by increasing wickedness.
Prayer: Dear Lord, please preserve us from complacency and stir us by what is going on around us to be lights in the darkness and to boldly proclaim the truth of Your word. Amen.
Malcolm Wood and his wife Anna became part of the Ellel family as House Managers at Ellel Grange in 1990. Since then they have been involved with many aspects of the developing Ministry. From 2001 until 2015 they were Directors of Ellel Scotland where they hosted several International Schools and Operation Blairmore and helped pioneer the exciting Creative Inspiration Weeks. They have three sons.
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