The Christian should stand out like a sparkling diamond against a rough background. He should be more wholesome than anyone else. He should be poised, cultured, courteous, gracious, but firm in the things that he does and does not do. He should laugh and be radiant, but he should refuse to allow the world to pull him down to its level.

Do not expect me to fall in with the evil customs and ways of the world. I am in Rome, but I will not do as Rome does. I am an alien, a stranger, and a foreigner. My citizenship is in heaven.

When the Christian brings the standards of Jesus Christ to bear upon life in a material and secular world, it is often resented. Because the moral and spiritual demands of Jesus Christ are so high, they often set the Christian "apart.

Where there is truth and error there is always compromise. Within some churches there is a movement to reshape the Christian message to make it more acceptable to man.

Before prayer changes others, it first changes us.

Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. ROMANS 12:2

Today we are putting our hopes in materialism, in technological progress, and in freedom from moral absolutes. They have all failed. They've failed because they've been powerless to change the human heart. What is the answer? There is hope, if we will turn to God.

God is concerned with our imaginations, for they in a large measure determine what kind of persons we are to be.

Why are our inner lives so important? One reason is because our thoughts determine our actions.

The entire world is in turmoil. We are living in a time of enormous conflict and cultural transformation. We have been stunned by shockwaves of change in nation after nation, all around the globe.

We need to know what the Bible teaches about right and wrong. Every day we are battered by messages—from the media, advertising, entertainment, celebrities, even our friends—with one underlying theme: "Live for yourself".

It is a tragedy that many of God's people have conformed themselves to the world and its thinking, rather than being transformed by the renewing of their minds.