Continuing our examination of ways to I.M.I.T.A.T.E Christ’s life and habits in our social life. We have acknowledged
that our Father gave us free will; that all things lawful are available to us,
but not everything is good for us.
Expediency - Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and
falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Matthew 5:11
In Choosing To Love God Rather than Our Pleasures
“There will be
perilous times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of
money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful,
unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal,
not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather
than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have
nothing to do with them!” 2 Timothy
3:1-5
These words define a characteristic that is all too prevalent
among some who claim the title “child of God” – the love of money and its pleasures. Activities commonly described as innocent
pleasures and amusements of life are lawful, but a child of God who habitually
indulges in such will ultimately come to prefer them over loving God. In JESUS’
own words, “No one can serve two masters.
For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.” Matthew 6:24
Those who seek fulfillment from the created rather than the
Creator are named as having a form of
godliness but denying its power – salvation through God’s Son and sanctification
through His Holy Spirit.
The unregenerate world may view such persons’ character as
good enough to get into Heaven, but God disagrees with that opinion. God’s WORD
actually commands that those who are seeking to love Him, honor His law and serve
Him diligently above all else must sever relationship with those for whom the
pursuit of worldly pleasures are priority over the pursuit of the Father – “Have nothing to do with them!”
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. 1 John 2:16
Lusts of the flesh are among the most offensive and grievous sins against the Father, and expressly forbidden in the WORD of God. These include:
- Gluttony, self-indulgence, over-indulgence of any kind including over-eating, spending excessively and beyond our means to acquire material goods we don’t really need - Sodom’s sins were pride, gluttony, and laziness, while the poor and needy suffered outside her door. Ezekiel 16:49
- Sensuality, casual flirtatiousness with the opposite sex – all sexual sin
- Carousing and drunkenness
- Lewd talk, back-biting, and jesting
Now the works of the
flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,
envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5: 19
These and all similar pleasures that are clearly forbidden in
the word of God, are in all occasions and in all circumstances, sinful; and
those who pursue them are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God.
Other pleasures and pursuits may not be sinful in themselves
nor expressly forbidden in God’s WORD, but may become sinful when pursued in a
manner that is disproportionate to the pursuit of the things of God, so as to
replace our divine duties. When God’s divine law and duties are always last on our
list of priorities or non-existent in our daily pursuits, we are in danger of being
outside of God’s providence.
This could happen with the most innocent and ordinary of daily
lifestyle activities. For instance the time we spend – with friends, watching
TV, reading novels and other non-religious books and material, working out and doing
other athletic activities, movie-watching, on social media sites, over working,
on any tasks to which we assign inordinate amounts of time that interfere with
our duties to God and His people.
We must prayerfully examine our lifestyle to identify activities
that habitually prevent us from responding appropriately to God’s expressed
commands to...
- Make the best use of our time, Ephesians 5:16
- Pray without ceasing, 1 Thessalonians 5:17
- Glorify God in all that we do, 1 Corinthians 10:31
- Deny ourselves, 1 Corinthians 6:12
- Put our personal needs aside to help others, Philippians 2:3
- Take up the cross and follow Christ, Matthew 16:24
A child of God can unintentionally fall into seasons of busyness
that lead to neglect of spiritual duty. However, once we are made aware of this
failure we must quickly reassess our lifestyle choices and make adjustments to
ensure we are not –
- Wasting our time.
- Losing opportunities to glorifying the Father.
- Allowing trivia to encroach on time that ought to be allotted to prayer.
- Ignoring duties of service to others.
- Generally fostering a spirit of self-indulgence.
To continue to neglect God’s divine laws and duties as assigned
to us is to deliberately deny Him as our Father and our God. This conduct is a
sin and undeniably proves that we are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God.
If however we consistently choose our Bible better than
any other book; God's house over any other place; prayer, worship and praise
over any other task; fellowship with God's people over socializing — we are displaying
indisputable evidence that we love God more than our pleasures.
“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them,
and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No
one can snatch them away from me…” John 10:27-28
To be concluded.…
Prayer and Thanksgiving: Holy Father, you are the One, true Living and Eternal
God and King. All honor and glory belong to YOU, WHO alone is good, perfect, and
wise! Thank you for teaching us that we must not become a slave to anything,
except your commands, which are easy. Thank
you for increasing our passion to live for you, for teaching us that we
belong wholly to you, that our bodies are made for YOU and that YOU care about what
we do with our bodies. Thank you for turning our hearts to honor Christ our
Lord as holy and to live the life He models for us by Your Spirit. To you belong all dominion and power for ever and ever. We pray
and ask all things in the Name of Jesus Christ our LORD. Amen.
Always by God’s Word and prayer,
Cecile
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