1 John 2:15-17
15 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 desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
It's easy to look at the above scripture and just breeze through it. It's easy to think that this is not talking about me. It's easy to look around and see where others may fall short in regard to the above verses. It tends to be uncomfortable to think about this scripture as it pertains to self. Meditating on scripture like this sometimes digs deep and points to problems that you either were not previously aware of or not eager to deal with. It is times like these the Holy Spirit uses to purify, mold, and sharpen us, to draw us toward Him.
In our service this morning it was made glaringly obvious that these verses do talk about me. There are many things in this world that are appealing to my flesh. Those things are for the most part all selfish. If you are anything like me you struggle with selfishness and pride. Pastor stated that worldliness and godliness are mutually exclusive. You can't have the (selfish) desires of the world and still hunger after God too. It is one or the other. Do you desire the world or do you desire the King of Kings. Temporal pleasure or eternal? More and more I desire the things of God. More and more the things of God are on my mind and in my heart. We need to keep moving onward and upward.
You may be wondering why I titled this post "Great Church". Well, if you have spent much time on this blog you will know that I love my church. I love my pastors. I love that they stand on the Word. I love that they preach through scripture, even the hard verses. They don't pull any punches for the sake of not offending anyone. Some of what my pastor said today was uncomfortable for me. I thank God for that. I often leave church squirming a little (sometimes a lot!). IMHO that is a very important part of growing closer to my God. I praise God for godly men who want to serve God and not man.
4 comments:
You wrote, "If you are anything like me you struggle with selfishness and pride."
Then you wrote, "worldliness and godliness are mutually exclusive. You can't have the (selfish) desires of the world and still hunger after God too. It is one or the other. Do you desire the world or do you desire the King of Kings. Temporal pleasure or eternal?"
So...if I believe my desire is for God, and 'selfish fleshly' desires are mutually exclusive, then why the ongoing 'struggle' as you put it?
Why must the flesh remain to be contended with?
I think I understand your question Tim. What I meant is, while you are running after the world it is impossible to run after God at the same time. I think that these are things that we will struggle with until we meet our Savior. We can't escape this world and its ways. We are polluted by it.
I believe that my primary desire is to seek after God, however that does not necessarily mean that I am able to (in the flesh) seek Him without sin. Perfection is unobtainable in the flesh.
While it is my desire to live my life completely devoted to God I don't believe I am able too. That should not stop us from running the race to completion!
Does this thought not sit well with you? Let me know what you think!
Yeah Rob...I agree, we can't run after the world and also after God. And I guess I'm questioning and thinking aloud with you here. I 'know' the right answers sometimes, but until I wrestle with them (often numerous times ;) they can still slip from my grasp. So then if we are running in one direction...after God, how do you account for the 'worldly desires' that express themselves along the way? How are they truly 'mutually exclusive'? I'm still working toward understanding how to persist in killing sin and then trying to look at it all from an understanding of how my ongoing weakness in the flesh is God's choice for bringing glory to Christ, thus my question 'why must the flesh remain to be contended with?
I get it at some levels..and then there are days where it just confounds me.
AND...I definitely agree...there's no quitting this race! By God's grace he has made the purchase and redeemed me...Glory! I just still have some puny questions along the way.
It will be good to talk with you further about these things and others, but I won't be anxious to get up there until that negative sign goes away! ;)
Your responce touches my heart brother. Thanks for your honesty and know that you are not alone in your struggles! It will be great to get to heaven and not have to worry about our "puny" questions or silly doubts. We will be in the presence of the King of Kings forever and ever! Ohh that will be glory for me!
Post a Comment