How Christians can overcome challenges to their values and lifestyle

Christians living in modern American society face many challenges to their values and lifestyle. One of the biggest of these challenges is maintaining their Christian values while being continuously bombarded by worldly values found in secular music, movies, television programs, magazines, and advertising. The way Christians can overcome this challenge without losing their values is found in Romans 12:2: Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. As Christians read the Scriptures to learn Gods principles to base their life on and ask the Holy Spirit to give them the power to apply these principles to their daily lives, they will be transformed away from worldly values and their minds will be renewed with spiritual values. Another way for Christians to have their minds renewed is by listening to good Christian music while they are travelling in their car or in their homes. As they listen to songs praising God, it lifts their spirits, renews their minds and attitudes, and reduces their daily stress. Another challenge that Christians face is the need to be part of society and have fun with their friends while still maintaining their Christian values and lifestyle. This challenge can be overcome by having fun in social activities within Christian groups. Many Christian churches have social activities that are fun and meaningful for people of all ages, such as: Christian movie nights, social dinners, Christian music concerts, sporting events, Bible study groups, and prayer support groups. The third challenge that Christians face is maintaining their Christian values while going through the secular public education system which teaches values and principles that often conflict with Christian values and principles. The way for Christians to overcome this challenge is for them to have been taught Christian principles based on the Scriptures so well that when they hear something that conflicts with these principles,

they will know the difference and then be able to discuss this with their teacher, parent, or church worker. There are some parents who deal with the challenge of secular public education by making great sacrifices in order to be able to send their children to Christian schools so they get taught Christian principles as a foundation that will last them a lifetime. Although there are other challenges that Christians will face in their life in modern society, these can also be overcome by using the power of the Holy Spirit to apply Scriptural principles to overcome every challenge or problem that comes their way.