Our society sends mixed signals. I got a letter from my credit card company, saying, “Mr. Egner, you are one of our most valued customers. We would like to raise your buying power by $3,000.” The next day, because I was late in sending a payment of $36.96, I got another letter from the same company. It made me feel like a terrible person. It seemed to be saying that if I didn’t pay up immediately, they would take action against me.

Which am I? A valued customer or a terrible person? Even more, how am I going to handle these mixed signals? On one hand, I was urged to go out and spend a lot more money. On the other, I felt threatened because I was late making a payment. It’s like the signals our society sends young people. In some ads, movies, and videos they’re told to indulge themselves now—with sex or alcohol. Yet at other times they are warned about AIDS and drinking while driving.

Our society sends many conflicting messages; the Bible does not. The Word of God tells us not to listen to our lusts but to follow God’s ways, depending fully on the Spirit (Gal. 5:16). If we do that, we will not live with the anxiety that results from following mixed signals.

  — David C. Egner