| The believer is in a continual warfare; he is never a soldier on parade or on furlough. We are called to “fight the good fight of faith,” to “be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: whom resist steadfast in the faith.” Let us remember always that “we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.” We must ever be on the alert, “lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.” Therefore, if we would resist Satan and please our Lord “who hath chosen” us, we must not be entangled “with the affairs of this life.” There is a difference in being engaged in “the affairs of this life” and being entangled with them. Even in right and legitimate things we must observe caution lest “the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful” in the life, for “ye cannot serve God and mammon.” |
