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 Living All-Out For God by K. A. Smith

Beyond any shadow of a doubt, we are living in the last days. It is a day just before the return of Christ to earth, and many people have lost the sense of sin. They have been deceived by the wicked one. They call good, evil; and evil, good.

But we cannot afford to be participating in anything that is questionable. If we want God’s presence and power in our lives, if we want revival and the move of the Holy Spirit, we must shun all appearance of evil and live close to the Lord. If we want to be ready when Christ returns, we must keep our lives holy, and pure and unspotted.

Search out your life now and make a renewed consecration to the Lord. Is there something in your life that you have been doing which is a questionable thing? If it is questionable, it must be that the Holy Spirit of God has put that question mark in your mind. The Spirit of the Lord has been tugging at your heart, trying to convince you of righteousness. I want to encourage you to live all-out for God.

Do not try to live as close as you can to the world. But try to live as far as you can from the world, and live as close as you can to the Lord. God wants to do great things in our lives, but He wants to work with those lives that have been made pure and unspotted. He is coming for a church that is unspotted. I trust that you will search out your heart in this hour and ask the Holy Spirit to give you His guidance. If He puts His finger of condemnation upon anything that you are doing, will you put it behind you – to live an all-out, Spirit-filled life?

Something to Go by

Permit me to give you eight rules for right living. These Bible rules will cover any and all questionable subjects that may be bothering you at the present time. If you will conscientiously apply these Scriptural rules to the questionable thing that you have in your mind, they will help you to form your own conviction of what is right and what is wrong.

Avoid Appearance of Evil

"Abstain from all appearance of evil" (1 Thes. 5:22). Does it appear to be evil? Does it take on the form of ungodliness? Does it attract the world, the ungodly crowd? If it appears to be evil, avoid it, shun it. Stay away from it is what the Bible commands.

Do All to God’s Glory

"Whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Cor. 10:31). Before you engage in this activity that is in question – Can you honestly feel that it can be done to the glory of God? Can you ask God’s blessing upon it? Can Christ be honored and uplifted through your participation in it?

Love Not the World

"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15). Ask yourself these questions: Is it of the world? Does the world sponsor and control it? Does it have a worldly, ungodly flavor? Jesus said we should be in the world, but not of the world. We cannot love the worldly things and also love God.

Do What Christ Would Do

"Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps" (1 Pet. 2:21). Christ is our great example. We bear His name – Christian – because we are to be Christ-like. We must ask ourselves the question, concerning questionable activities: Would Jesus do them? Would He sanction this with His presence and participation? What would Jesus do if He were I? He is a holy example and we are to follow in His steps is what the Bible says.

Avoid Bringing Shame

"Abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming" (1 John 2:28). Would you like to be found engaged in this activity when Jesus returns to earth for His own? Do not do anything, or say anything, or go anywhere that would cause you to be ashamed at the coming of the Lord.

Do Not Grieve the Holy Spirit

"Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit" (1 Cor. 6:19). We are the temples of the Holy Spirit. God wants to dwell in us. If we do those things which defile the temple, we grieve the Holy Spirit of God, and He will not abide in us, or work in and through us. We cannot be filled with the Spirit and the things of the world at the same time. We should ask ourselves the questions: Would my participation in this activity encourage the presence of the Lord in my life? Will it grieve away the Holy Spirit? How will this affect my life and my relationship with the Lord? What effect would this have on me for good or evil?

Seek to Please God

"And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight" (1 John 3:22).

Here is a good rule to follow: Does this activity please the Lord? Can He say after you have finished, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant"? We love the Lord and want to please Him in all things that we do and say. We do not refrain from the questionable things just because we have to do so, or because our denomination does not believe in it. We avoid questionable, worldly pleasures and amusements because we love the Lord and we want to please Him at all times and in all things.

Be an Example for Others

"That no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way" (Rom. 14:13). Not only are we to be careful for our own soul’s sake, but for the sake of others – for our example’s sake. What effect will my conduct have on others? What influence will I bear upon others, upon my friends? If I participate in this activity, do I want my children to follow my example? Do I want my youngsters to follow in my footsteps in this activity? What kind of testimony will this be to my unsaved friends?

These are questions that we should ask before we decide the right and the wrong of questionable things.


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