Otherwise, they will teach you to follow all the detestable things they do in worshiping their gods, and you will sin against the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 20:18 NIV
How much influence does the world have on you? Do you find yourself wanting what other people have? Or what you see advertised through different media? Do you find yourself valuing the same things that your unbelieving neighbors and coworkers value?
This is a genuine danger we all face as long as we live in this fallen world. And it is the danger that Moses warned the Israelites against before entering the promised land. This land was to be their home, and they were charged with removing the ungodly influence of the people they were replacing. We may struggle with how they were to do that, killing everyone who lived there. But their failure to follow God’s instruction resulted in them adopting the ways of their neighbors and becoming like them.
As believers today, this world is not our home. And we are not called to cleanse the land we live in, although we should be a light to the world. We are foreigners here looking forward to the home that is being prepared for us.
But the warning is the same, we need to guard against the influence of the world. It is very easy to fall into the trap of being like the people around us, wanting and valuing the same things they do. Worshipping at the altars of materialism, pleasure, and self. And when we do, we sin against the Lord our God, who freed us from slavery to that empty way of life. Instead, we should strive to be holy as God is holy (1 Pet. 1:15-16).
