“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.” (‭‭1 John‬ ‭2‬:‭15‬ ‭ESV‬)

As Christians, we are commanded to not love this world. We are to be in the world, but not of the world. We may be part of this world, but we no longer identify with it.

And yet, every day we must fight against it and other foes: the world, the flesh, and the devil. Let’s look briefly at each.

The world. Whether we deal with the LGBTQ+ movement, “wokeness,” or anything else in between that is contrary to God’s Word, we swim upstream against culture. Society is not going to progress; it’s not going to get better. As Christians, we must find the balance between loving the world as those people made in God’s image and yet, simultaneously calling them to repentance and faith and sharing the love of Christ found in the only true gospel.

The flesh. Each day we wake up, the battles rages—with ourselves. Since we are a new creation in Christ, but still reside in our flesh, we have to fight against our old, sinful tendencies daily. Temptations arise everyday and we are called by God to not just resist, but to actively fight back. How do we do that? By setting our gaze upon the majesty of Christ and the glory of God. Sin becomes obsolete when Jesus takes up space in our minds and hearts.

The devil. This is also a balancing act. Satan is not near as powerful as some think he is—but he’s still powerful. He’s always crafty; always a slithering snake who is full of deceit. We don’t want to overestimate his influence, but we certainly shouldn’t underestimate him. At the end of the day, we must know we fight not with kings and rulers, but with the prince of the power of the air. The evil one. The liar. The one who is going to be tossed in the lake of fire. Resist him.