Are you unaffiliated?

Over the weekend I watched "Oh Brother where art thou?" for the umpteenth time. I love watching the show as it has a diverse group of characters and is very entertaining. This time though I noticed something I hadn't noticed before after the baptism scene they pick up Tommy the man that was at the crossroads, the mythical place where it is said the devil will trade fame and fortune for your immortal soul. Delmer and Pete were the ones that had just been baptized, Tommy had sold his soul to the devil as to quote the character in the movie, "I wasn't usin it" and Everett made the comment that he was the only one unaffiliated.

I hadn't put much thought to the movie or the comments before but this time it hit me how so many people in the world today are either like Tommy and have made wrong choices or like Everett and unaffiliated.

What does it mean to be unaffiliated, if we go by the dictionary definition it means not associated with another or others as a subordinate, subsidiary, or member; independent.

For years I was UNAFFILIATED, lost, and ended up at the same crossroads as the character Tommy, not tempted by the same things as Tommy but tempted none the less. It doesn't have to be fame and fortune it could be that car you always wanted, or the new house or basically anything that you could covet. Satan will always be there to tempt us, someone that was bold enough to think he could tempt God himself finds no trouble in sending things our way.

What I have found since becoming a child of God though is not just that I am affiliated but I have an advocate that is always there to help me in my times of trouble or when temptation comes my way. I truly feel for people like Tommy and Everett, for ones like Tommy as they don't  see the value of their soul, and for ones like Everett who think being independent and UNAFFILIATED make them more of a man.

Mark 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ² And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. ³ Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.” ⁴ But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
⁵ Then the devil took Him up into the holy city, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶ and said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down. For it is written:

‘He shall give His angels charge over you,’

and,

‘In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.’”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God.’”

⁸ Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. ⁹ And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.”
¹⁰ Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
¹¹ Then the devil left Him, and behold, angels came and ministered to Him.