Do Not Love the World1 JOHN 2: 15Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. 17The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
When you think about these words, they are really tough to handle as a disciple of Jesus Christ. Tough to handle in the way that our old self (dead to sin) is still at war with our new self born again in Jesus Christ. We are no longer owned by death, as death has lost its hold on those who profess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The problem is when we entertain lust in our lives. Lust is defined as, "intense sexual desire or appetite". There are three things that can pull us away from what God's perfect plan for us is:
Lust of the eyes:
- Beauty (desiring what we see, but cannot have)
- Nudity
- Sexual appetite
- Desire
- Want
- Greed
Lust of the Flesh
- Acting on that which we desire by sight
- Giving in to the temptation of the eyes
- Gratifying our desires via the flesh
- Gluttony
- Overdoing
- Insatiable Appetite (nothing can fill it)
- Addictions (drugs, alcohol, sex) and giving in to them
Pride of life
- Putting our needs before God's will
- Succoming to our desires, thereby following the worlds path instead of God's
Becoming god-like without the power to save (we did it our way NOT God's way)- Selfishness
- Arrogance
- Un-repentance
How to equip yourself for these 3 major battles:
- Put on the new self
- Holy Living (click here)
- Become a living sacrifice (click here)
- Renew your mind (daily and for some minute by minute)
- Confess and Repent
- Turn away from (in simple terms: RUN)
Next up, running the race: Equip, Prepare, FightBlessings,
Dante