Coexisting Is Not Recommended

But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them.” [Numbers 33.55-56]

I see bumper stickers often with many of the world's religious symbols on it along with the word "coexist."

The passage above explains exactly why "coexisting" is a bad idea.

God's blessing is on those who are obedient to Him. This is, and always has been, God's plan.

However, God's curse is on those who are disobedient to Him. This was implemented when Adam and Eve welcomed sin into the world.

God ALWAYS rewards obedience (including the obedience of faith in Christ) with blessings and disobedience (including failing to believe in Christ) with curses. ALWAYS is a key word.

So, why do Christians suffer then? In a word, sin. But to be more specific, their sin may not be an overt sin of commission as much as it may be a cloaked sin of omission. Such a sin of omission could be "coexisting" with those whom the Lord said "come out from among them" or "drive them out..."

We must remember that God is just and will do "just" what He said He would do to disobedience and its proponents. If we look closely at the definitions of the curses upon disobedience found in Deuteronomy 28, we will see that many of the curses have to do with the "land" and "crops" and inclusive broad-stroke conditions of mayhem and disaster.

If God's curses upon disobedient people includes widespread physical suffering (whether it be sickness or crop failure) EVERYONE in the cursed area will be affected - not just the disobedient one.

Is that fair? Of course it is. That is precisely why God said, "drive out the [sinful] people of the land!" In all fairness, God, in paraphrase, said, "I am going to bring curses upon these people, so you'd better not be where they are."

God told the people to get away from the tents of Korah and other rebels. Why? Because the ground opened and swallowed them up! Anyone standing too near, righteous or not, would be consumed as well.

What would not be fair is if God did not tell us to "step away." But He did.

So, much of the suffering we experience in our lives could in fact be because we have "coexisted" far too long with evil. It could be that we have allowed ourselves to "coexist" with unrighteousness and, by "standing too close to the fire," we have gotten burned ourselves.

If Christians are not evangelizing, then they are coexisting.

Father, help us who profess Christ to understand that we are not of this world but are indeed in this world. Help us to comprehend the fact that Your curses are upon disobedience and our job is to being Jesus and redemption everywhere we are and everywhere we go. Help us to see that if we are not evangelizing, then we are coexisting, and that is dangerous.