Thursday Reading: 1 John 2 15-17
Key Verse: 1 John 2 15
15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,
Key Verse: 1 John 2 15
15 Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,
Devotion:
Does this mean that we have to give everything up, go out into the desert and live off locusts and honey like John did? No. What needs to be done is our outlook on the world and things of the world has to change. We need look upon the things of the world as being exactly that, things of this world. We currently live in this world, so there is nothing wrong with desiring things from this world and having things from this world... so long as they are used as God intends us to use them. As long as we use things with the aim of giving God the glory and not seeking to abuse things or value then in sinful ways, then there should not be anything wrong with having things.
Does this mean that we have to give everything up, go out into the desert and live off locusts and honey like John did? No. What needs to be done is our outlook on the world and things of the world has to change. We need look upon the things of the world as being exactly that, things of this world. We currently live in this world, so there is nothing wrong with desiring things from this world and having things from this world... so long as they are used as God intends us to use them. As long as we use things with the aim of giving God the glory and not seeking to abuse things or value then in sinful ways, then there should not be anything wrong with having things.
I say should... because we are most often the weakest link and we are the ones that break the rules. Worldly things draw our hearts away from God. They take our time and effort away from doing God's will. They focus our attention on ungodly things. The ways that we will see ourselves fall short can be summarised in three points raise here. The lust of the flesh – our wrongful desires of our hearts, our appetite to overindulge in all things that excite us. Secondly, the lust of the eyes – when we see things we are lead to covert them. Thirdly, the pride of life – self pride takes us closer to thinking that we can be like God. Our thirst for honour and glory drives us to do things that are not giving God the glory, but ourselves.
Everything in this world will die away. Some of the things we seek die away so quickly that we begin to wonder why we crave them. When we loose things we become despondent. Our emotions go up and down like roller coasters seemingly without end. We loose control of our own lives and simply go with the flow... then we have the cheek to turn around and ask why God has left us! We need to leave our worldly lusts and seek God's truth above all... He will always be waiting for us...
Points to Ponder:
Do you get carried away easily?
Do you get carried away easily?
How much of your life do you dedicate to Christ?