Keeping Yourself

Keeping Yourself

“We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him.” 1 John 5:18. You might think it strange that someone who is born of God needs to be on guard and keep himself, but when I do this, I understand and experience that I have flesh. It is written in 2 Cor. 4:6-12: “For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness . . . to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. . . . We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed—always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.” So then, the flesh is hard-pressed, and the life of Jesus is manifested in our bodies! I become increasingly free from the constant demands of my flesh.

We have an example in the Old Testament of someone who did not keep himself. In the end, he gave in to Delilah’s continual demands. “And she said, ‘The Philistines are upon you, Samson!’ So he awoke from his sleep, and said, ‘I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!’ But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.” Judg. 16:20. The same thing will happen to me if I do not keep myself—the Lord will depart from me! I give in to the demands of my flesh; I become crushed, despairing, forsaken, and destroyed. This is in contrast to “we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” 2 Cor. 4:7. The life of Jesus is manifested in my body more and more. “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.” 2 Cor. 4:17.

2 Cor. 6:17-18: “Therefore ‘come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’” These verses are written in the context of, among other things, what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness? V. 14. If I want to be a temple of the living God, I must keep myself! Then I enter into fellowship with the believers, where God dwells and walks among them—a chosen people: “I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”