learning DAILY



1 John 2:15-17, Do not love the world or the things of the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.  And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

I know - I used this scripture yesterday.  There are a few more teachable thoughts to encourage you.  My goal for this blog has been to encourage you to be strong in God’s Word, to bring out words of encouragement that will help us walk in the way God desires us to walk.  These are perilous times; times when we all need to be shaken out of our complacency, our every day as usual type of living.

Yesterday, I tried to define the “world” as that which is controlled and influences by Satan.  We are to be set apart from it.  James 4:4 states this relationship this way, “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?  Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”  Who would want to be an enemy of God?

Lust represents desire; it results when we want our own way.  John speaks that all that is in the world comes from our desire to indulge the flesh (physical temptations), what the eyes see (greed, envy), and the desire to be recognized (pride).  For whatever reason, when we think of lust our mind automatically goes to sexual temptations.  Lust would also include gluttony, love of money or power, among other things.

A long time ago, I read a book called The Kingdom of Self.  It explained that this attitude we are discussing develops from the time of birth.  Yes, babies need our attention – they cry to let parents know that they need a diaper change, when they are hungry, and when they just want attention.  However, this desire for attention only continues as parents give in every time a tantrum is thrown in order to get their way.  How many times do we see children crying and doing other things until they get what they want?  If this self-centered attitude is not brought to an end – well, just look at people today.  The trap is set early for the lust of the world to be in people and we have the problems we see today.

Notice the last verse of this passage.  The world is passing away.  But, “but he who does the will of God abides forever”.  We probably should be asking ourselves if there is anything more important to us than God.  If there is, it is an idol.  Perhaps there is another question we should consider.  Is this activity that I’ve been involved with tempting me toward sin or helping me be entertained by sin?  If something makes God in His holiness angry, why should we desire to be entertained by it? 

If you think I am pointing a finger at you this morning, I have more fingers pointing back at me.  This would be a good time to take a few minutes alone with the Lord to examine ourselves.  Allow Him to show and convict us of those things in our lives that are “worldly” and needs His forgiveness to correct.  I encourage you to love the beauty of God’s world!

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