Jekyll and Hyde

Mean chicks, dude.

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It's hard living two separate lives. When I think about the title of this post, I don't really think about the story that scared me as a kid. I think about the people who put themselves through the torture of trying to be two different people.

I've been there before. Wearing two masks. On one, a face of good, godly, church-involvement and talking a good game of love and friendship. But on the other, trying to please worldly people and be what I have to be to keep them in my life. The question is, "Why would I want to?"

This is one of those black-and-white Bible things. The Word is very clear about how we can't serve two masters and that by becoming friends with the world, we become an enemy of God. There's no gray area there. So why is it that everywhere you turn, you see the world stealing people away from the church?

Because, "even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light." We fall for the deceptions because he uses the things we are looking for. Attention, love, success, fame, glory; essentially the things that he himself desired and that led to his downfall.

We've got to realize that the church is where God wants us. He designed it as a body of like-minded people who could be each others safety nets. It's not a club, or just somewhere to go when we have nothing better to do. The things we do, the groups we form, the circles we run in are there for us to draw strength from and fall back on. And in those things we are bound together by Christ's blood. That's a bond that worldly people are clueless about because light and darkness can't co-exist. It's got to be one or the other.

It breaks my heart to see people torn apart by the struggle of living in two worlds. It is evident in their actions and their attitudes. Where the two worlds collide, there is a crossroads, a decision to be made. Too often, the wrong road is chosen. We can't stand in the world on our own, the Bible is also clear about that. So we must choose the one life that keeps us close to God, the life with His family.

Pray for each other. Pray for our own who are struggling with the deceptions of the world and its strongholds. In our unity and fellowship, we are a church. And the gates of Hell will not prevail.

And I ask that you pray for me, too.