I am Excited

I am very excited for all of us to dive into the Word together and wrestle and grow together.

I also enjoyed that last post by daddy.

So today I read Judges 1 & 2.   It is funny to me that we are reading right here because this is something that I have been thinking a lot about lately.  I am talking about how the Israelites don't fully complete their conquest of the land.  They do not fully drive out the inhabitants of Canaan.  

This makes me think of a few different things.  God wanted his people to be separated from the other nations because he knew that it would cause them to stumble.  They would start worshipping other gods and taking on other nations traditions.  And that is exactly what happened.  I struggle with how this plays out today.  I feel we are called in one sense to live holy and purely for God (separate from the world).  Yet we are not living in a nation that is wholly devoted to God.  Nor is the church solid enough in a community where they are really separated.  And can really be transformed be each other.  This is why I want to live in community.  We are so impacted by the 'world' and our society today in ways that are not of God.  Like you were saying Brad with the music we listen to and tv, movies, media, maybe even certain friends, and a million other things.

This brings me to my other point.  That what God called His people to do is not the 'nicest' or most 'proper' or 'respectable' thing to do.  It seems cold and mean.  These people live here for how long and they are to come and kill or kick out men, women and children.  I want to wipe my slate clean of what i think is the right or good thing to do.  I want to follow God even if it seems crazy to the world.  Look at Jesus' life.  He lived a life so radical and preached things that put him on the cross.  

"They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.  We are from God.  Whoever know God listens to us;  whoever is not from God does not listen to us.  By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

              1 John 4:5-6

Why do we listen to the world if we are from God?  Maybe we need to do something radical to separate ourselves.  I remember in high school when I really changed my life around I stopped hanging out with all the football guys (you know brad).  I was a dick for it, everyone said I was a jerk and abandoned my friends that I had known since kindergarden.  But looking back I consider it gain.  

What do you guys think?