We had a wonderful time at my home fellowship bible study yesterday evening. We were studying 1 John 2:15-18. We were discussing how our walk with the Lord is affected by our love for the things of this world.
We talked about how the world system is very deceptive and hard to resist.
The world�s progress, technology, government, and organization can make people better off, but not better.These days it can't even promise a better life too easily... But, because we like being better off, it is easy to fall in love with the world.
What the world wants from us, is love. That equals our time, attention and money. If we love the world we gain status, prestige, power, and comfort. The world knows how to reward its lovers~ with anything that will draw us in further into its grasp. But we must always remember how temporary the reward is~ and what we lose in return for it. We cannot love both the world and our heavenly Father...
In the past, Christians have dealt with the magnetic pull of the world in different ways. At one time it was thought that if you were a really committed Christian and really wanted to love God instead of the world, you would leave human society and live as a monk or a nun out in a desolate monastery... or in isolation.
But even if we take ourselves out of the world~ we bring it with us into our isolated home. Also, Jesus intended us to be in the world but not of the world. We see this in His prayer for us in John 17:14-18.
So~ what is the answer? How do we forsake loving this world? So I started to look at some things that can trip me up, like success and relationships.
And I asked myself some questions:
*What is my standard for success? Do I consider the apostle Paul a success? How do I compare worldly success with his godly success?
*By what standard do I measure what makes a person of the opposite sex appealing? Money, talent, appearance, prestige, security? Am I using a godly or a worldly standard? How does God measure these things?
I can say I pass the test in some of these things... Maybe most of us can. But what about my spiritual standard? Do I use God's standard to measure spirituality in a mate? I know there is a worldly spirituality~ and many buy into it.
But it is so foolish to live for ~ and to love the worldly things, because it is all passing away! This is not a wish, or a high minded spiritual desire, this is a fact! It is all winding down and dwindling away, every gleaming idol in this world is fading fast!
Look at Lot in Genesis chapters 13,14, and 19. Even though he had the example of a truly spiritual man, Abraham. Lot chose for himself what seemed the most lucrative, without considering the spiritual implications of what he was doing. He became financially prosperous, but pitched his tent toward a wicked, worldly city ~ Sodom.
After a while, he was sitting in the gates of the city as one of it�s civic leaders... He had worldly status, influence, wealth, and comfort. :rocknroll: But, it was all taken away in a moment when the judgment of God came on Sodom and Gomorrah. He lost his wife and even his own daughters brought him down into deep disgrace. Lot put all his eggs in the wrong basket, and was burned by the fact that ...the world is passing away.
What about the Pharaoh's buried in the pyramids with all their treasures? Who was richer, or more comfortable, or had more status than an ancient Pharaoh? They thought to take these beautiful worldly things into "the world to come", but their riches were all taken and used by grave robbers!
And no one drives through the gates of heaven with a moving van filled with the stuff of this world. Because ...the world is passing away!
Now think for a minute~ there are only three things that are not passing away in this world. The Holy Spirit of God, the people around us, and the eternal word of God!
Of course, where we spend eternity is quite a consideration~ And the Holy Spirit speaks through John saying;
"He who does the will of God abides forever."
So we must invest our time, our attention, and our money in doing the will of God. Then we will receive eternal rewards. We must allow the Holy Spirit to convict us of worldliness, and repent before it all passes away, and we lose the blessing of our Lords eternal rewards...
God teach us to get our minds renewed daily by His eternal word~ so we may no longer be conformed into this world's design. But be re-designed in mind and heart and living for Jesus sake. Amen.
He is no fool, who willingly loses what he cannot keep~ to gain that which he cannot lose.
