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6:12-7:24- The Lord has placed the highest value on us: ‘you were bought with a price’(6:20; 7:23). Our love for Him must be stronger than any other love. Some are under pressure, at home, from an unbelieving husband or wife. You wonder whether your Christian witness is doing any good (7:16). You feel you are getting nowhere. You feel like giving up. You feel yourself being dragged away from the Lord. What does the Word of God say? - ‘Lead the life which the Lord has assigned’; ‘Remain with God’(7:17,24). A difficult situation at home is just one example of ‘the world’trying to ‘squeeze us into its own mould’(Romans 12:2). The world will keep chipping away at our faith - until there’s nothing left. ‘Do not love the world or the things in the world... He who does the will of God abides for ever’(1 John 2:17).
7:25-8:13- We are to ‘use the things of the world’without becoming ‘engrossed in them’(31). Becoming more worldly in our way of living is not a purely personal thing. We harm other people ‘for whom Christ died’. They look to us for a godly example and we let them down. We ‘sin against them’. We ‘sin against Christ’. Our choices affect other people. We choose a self-centred life. We cause them to ‘fall into sin’. We live a life of ‘love’, and they are ‘built up’in their faith (11-13,1; Matthew 18:5-7, 10). How are we to live? Are we to become preoccupied with how our actions affect those who watch our every move? That could become very confusing and distracting. We must keep our eyes on Jesus. We must live ‘not ... as men-pleasers, but as servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart...’(Ephesians 6:6-7).