Only in His Power

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does- comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.” I John 2:15-17

These verses are like old friends to me. They have been in and around my life since I first started going to church as a teenager. Whenever I read these verses I am made to pause and to reflect. Yes, I am made to evaluate my affections.

So what do these verses really mean? Is it wrong to enjoy life? Is it sinful to own a car or a home, or to enjoy a family vacation? Well, the answer to those questions is both yes and no. I think most of us already know that intuitively.

The word ‘world’ is used in the true sense here as an enemy of God. It includes everything that is opposed to God. We are not talking about the created world - the flowers, the birds, and the sea; we are talking about the man-made systems of this world. We are talking about man-made comforts, distractions, and sins that turn the heart away from the Father. Jesus said quite clearly, “Man cannot serve two masters” and John brings that teaching into focus in the verses above.

John is telling us that the real Christian will be aware of the triune assault that seeks to destroy our relationship with the Father. From the beginning of time, every generation has had to battle these enemies or be taken captive by them.

1. The lust of the flesh. We are being assaulted every day by the lust for things that bring pleasure to the flesh. We often think of this in terms of sensual enticements, but this word goes far beyond that. The lust of the flesh is anything that brings a disordered amount of pleasure to the flesh. It can be sexual, it can be eating, it can be laziness, it can be a shortcut; it can be anything that is motivated by selfishness that brings us pleasure.

2. The lust of the eyes. We are bombarded almost every minute of the day by advertisements, things that we are told we need. If we are not careful, we begin to believe that we not only need these things, but we are entitled to them. Our eyes tell us that we need something new, even though the old is not worn out. Our eyes tell us to be discontent until we are satisfied with that shiny new thing.

3. The pride of life. We are assailed by feelings of pride when we attain the lust of the flesh and the lust of eyes. We are proud of what we have done and what we have acquired. The pride of life is not meant here as a passing thought, but as a state of general conceit. As one sets himself up as the center of his universe without love for anyone but himself, this sin is the grossest of them all.

Each and every day we are threatened by these three enemies. We are pushed to be consumed by everything that is either against God, or just slowly pushes Him away. God made the world, and we often turn our backs on Him to pursue those very things that are against Him.

The heart is very deceitful and only the Holy Spirit can steer us clear of being just another consumer living on planet earth. Only in His power can we use self control to say ‘no’ to ourselves and to the world that wants to enslave us. I am always amazed by the double talk of our worldly system. We have commercials that help us with credit card debt while at the same time we have commercials that tell us how we should use credit cards because we deserve to buy something that makes us feel good. We hear news stories of people of notoriety having marriage or sexual problems; yet, the world promotes infidelity non-stop through the media and makes it seem as normal as ordering at McDonalds. Only the Spirit of God can break through all of this to help us see the lies, the danger, the prison, and the whole world matrix that would like to destroy us.

Gregory was born in Rome to wealthy parents in 540 A.D. He was of the privileged class and his future was bright. Gregory, however, chose a different path and renounced wealth and class and became a minister instead. Familiar with the three temptations we have looked at, he disciplined his life in such a way that he could continually defeat them. Here are the words of Gregory as he wrote to his people regarding the things of this world:

“I would like to urge you to forsake everything, but that I do not presume to do. Yet, if you cannot give up everything of this world, at least keep what belongs to the world in such a way that you yourself are not kept prisoner by the world. Whatever you possess must not possess you; whatever you own must be under the power of your soul; for if your soul is overpowered by the love of this world’s goods, it will be totally at the mercy of its possessions. In other words, we make use of temporal things, but our hearts are set on what is eternal. Temporal goods help us on our way, but our desire must be for those eternal realities which are our goal.”

May the eyes of our soul not grow dull by the power of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Let us embrace the Father to a much greater degree than we embrace this world!

Running Towards the Father,

Dan Owens

Copyright 2010 Eternity Minded Ministries