Love the world???

1st John 2:15-17

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 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. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

I'm sure we all remember the example of this from the Old Testament. Lot's wife, turning into a pillar of salt. The angels warned them not to look back. We too should not look back longingly. The only excitement we should have about our past, is that it has been forgiven and forgotten. We shouldn't foam at the mouth (so to speak) when we talk of things we used to do. It wasn't glamorous then, it's not glamorous now. We sometimes get that old "Children of Israel longing for Egypt" type of feeling going on once in a while. Now few of us are wandering in a desert with sand on all sides of us. But we too can look back longingly once in a while. The way I look at it is, "If it was so great, why was killing myself daily?" No, friends, it wasn't great, and I don't EVER want to be back there again. I don't miss it not even a little bit. Notice carefully that nowhere, does John mention people. No, he mentions attitudes, and lusts. Let's go through them one by one:

Lust of the flesh. The flesh, quite literally, wars against the Spirit. The flesh wants gratification. Whether it be food, sex, warmth, coolness............there is much that the flesh wants. If you don't eat for a while, your flesh will let you know. It wants what it wants, when it wants it. This is why fasting is such a good thing. It reminds us, and the flesh, that we are going to follow the Spirit and nothing else. Now don't do as the Pharisees did, and make fasting a show, and a religious thing. It doesn't have to be once a week, or once a month, or on any given day. A fast must have a purpose. We've talked about that before though.

Lust of the eyes. In this day and age, you can add pornography to this list. In John's time the lust of the eyes was putting things in front of you, that were pleasing.....and the same hold true today. Also envy goes hand in hand with this one. This is not to say that pornography wasn't an issue then, I'm sure there were sexual things to look at, but it wasn't as readily available then as it is now. Heck even 20 years ago it wasn't. Now, sex is used to sell everything from cars to hamburgers. Be careful what you put before your eyes. (On a side note David Robinson, a retired basketball player from the San Antonio Spurs, would turn his chair away from the basketball court when the ladies in scantily clad attire were dancing around quite suggestively. He said he didn't want to put that image in his head, and he didn't want to lust after them, so he chose not to look. He is a Christian and was, and is, a huge role model.)

The pride of life. Being proud of personal accomplishments is highly touted nowadays. Sometimes it can be a good thing, and sometimes bad. Our main accomplishment in life is to know, share, and live Jesus every single day. Anything other than that is quite frankly, of the world. We can lift up Jesus in our daily activities. In my online business, I share Jesus with everyone I deal with.......from competitors, to customers, and suppliers. We can make mundane worldly activities into a way to lift up Jesus. Just as the valedictorian of the school (as my cousin did at her high school graduation) can thank Jesus for the strength and ability to do her best, and accomplish something great. Now I say none of this to denigrate anyone, or any accomplishment. We just need to keep things in perspective. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Is it for the praise of man, or to please God, and bring Him glory?

OK, I think we've covered it all here. Have a wonderful day and God bless. :-) Pastor James