If You Love the World, the Love of the Father is Not In You
I looked at the billboard that said Elton John was coming to town. There is something inside of me that wants to go. His songs and voice really move me. To hear him sing "Can you feel the love tonight?" and "Goodbye, Yellow Brick Road", to name a few, would really be awesome. But, I know I won't buy tickets and go.
Why won't I? Many years ago when I gave my life to the Lord, He put me on a short leash. Maybe it was because He knew I could slip back into Egypt (the world) so quickly. Maybe it was because He has called all of His children out of the world, and unto Himself, and some hear His voice, and some don't. I'm not really sure. I do know that when I left the past behind me, I left it, never to go back.
In fact, many years ago, when my son and his wife graduated from a Bible college, we went to their graduation supper, and the students sang with fervency a song whose words were: "I won't go back, I won't go back. My God is good to me. Jesus has set me free. I won't go back." As they made this declaration in song, my heart joined with theirs, and I made it too. Going back to Egypt, offered predictability and meager sustenance, quite different from following God in the fog, but it also held one in bondage.
Some people might think that comparing going to see Elton John in concert and being in Egypt is unfair. I know it's not a sin, but it's the cumulative activities of this world, that eventually gets a person eating from it's allurements, and before one knows it, they have left their first love. Jesus gets bumped down on the list, little by little. What replaces Him are other things, people, and time-consuming, worldly activities. I believe, and I can't prove it, (except by observation) that if God's people begin to fill their lives with things they want to do, see and experience, they lose their spiritual discernment, and can't even see when they begin to get further and further away from Christ, and His Kingdom.
This is happening to money-consumed American Christians in a big way today. They speak of "bucket lists" and such, and without knowing it, their lives are again their own. They forgot they've been bought with a price, and that God, through Jesus Christ, wants to use them for His plans and purposes, and yet, how can He, if they are using up all their time for their own desires only? And where does offering yourself as a living sacrifice come into play; what He calls our spiritual act of worship?
I truly understand the lure and the pull of the world to go see people like Elton John, go on lavish vacations, buy pretty and expensive material things, build big houses, improve one's looks with plastic surgery, eat rich foods, and do exciting things with one's life because the lure is seducing to the flesh. I would even say there is a demonic spirit attached to it, and we must resist it with His power only. If we don't, and we feed this part of ourselves over and over again, it empowers our flesh, and the Spirit of God in us gets snuffed out. We return to our vomit, and then become Luke-warm Laodiceans. We still think we are rich, but God says, we are poor because we don't know Him anymore. Little foxes spoil the vine, He tells us in His Word. I am understanding this more each day. "Heaping it on ourselves" only brings more emptiness, and, in the end, if not repented of, apostasy. Oh, how dark is that darkness.
Other quotes:
“It does not take long to tell where a man’s treasure is. In 15 minutes’ conversation with most men you can tell whether their treasures are on the earth or in heaven.” D.L.Moody
“The church and the world have become so intertwined that it is hard to tell one from the other. The world has so affected the church’s moral standards that Christians say they believe in Christ and yet have never bothered to change their moral attitudes and standards at all.” -A.W. Tozer
“The true Christian is one who is kind of sick of this world. If I find anybody who is settled down too snugly into this world, I am made to doubt whether he’s ever truly been born again.” -A. W. Tozer
“How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you don’t even have the strength to turn off your TV?” -Leonard Ravenhill
“The world is about to burn and its foundations shaken by the almighty hand of God, and Christians sit nonchalantly before their television idol, wasting precious time.” -David Wilkerson
“Would that we could see the wall of separation between the church and the world made broader and stronger. It makes one sad to hear Christians saying, ‘Well, there is no harm in this; there is no harm in that,’ thus getting as near to the world as possible.” -Charles Spurgeon
“I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world, is because the world has so much influence over the church.” -Charles Spurgeon
Why won't I? Many years ago when I gave my life to the Lord, He put me on a short leash. Maybe it was because He knew I could slip back into Egypt (the world) so quickly. Maybe it was because He has called all of His children out of the world, and unto Himself, and some hear His voice, and some don't. I'm not really sure. I do know that when I left the past behind me, I left it, never to go back.
In fact, many years ago, when my son and his wife graduated from a Bible college, we went to their graduation supper, and the students sang with fervency a song whose words were: "I won't go back, I won't go back. My God is good to me. Jesus has set me free. I won't go back." As they made this declaration in song, my heart joined with theirs, and I made it too. Going back to Egypt, offered predictability and meager sustenance, quite different from following God in the fog, but it also held one in bondage.
Some people might think that comparing going to see Elton John in concert and being in Egypt is unfair. I know it's not a sin, but it's the cumulative activities of this world, that eventually gets a person eating from it's allurements, and before one knows it, they have left their first love. Jesus gets bumped down on the list, little by little. What replaces Him are other things, people, and time-consuming, worldly activities. I believe, and I can't prove it, (except by observation) that if God's people begin to fill their lives with things they want to do, see and experience, they lose their spiritual discernment, and can't even see when they begin to get further and further away from Christ, and His Kingdom.
This is happening to money-consumed American Christians in a big way today. They speak of "bucket lists" and such, and without knowing it, their lives are again their own. They forgot they've been bought with a price, and that God, through Jesus Christ, wants to use them for His plans and purposes, and yet, how can He, if they are using up all their time for their own desires only? And where does offering yourself as a living sacrifice come into play; what He calls our spiritual act of worship?
I truly understand the lure and the pull of the world to go see people like Elton John, go on lavish vacations, buy pretty and expensive material things, build big houses, improve one's looks with plastic surgery, eat rich foods, and do exciting things with one's life because the lure is seducing to the flesh. I would even say there is a demonic spirit attached to it, and we must resist it with His power only. If we don't, and we feed this part of ourselves over and over again, it empowers our flesh, and the Spirit of God in us gets snuffed out. We return to our vomit, and then become Luke-warm Laodiceans. We still think we are rich, but God says, we are poor because we don't know Him anymore. Little foxes spoil the vine, He tells us in His Word. I am understanding this more each day. "Heaping it on ourselves" only brings more emptiness, and, in the end, if not repented of, apostasy. Oh, how dark is that darkness.
Other quotes:
“It does not take long to tell where a man’s treasure is. In 15 minutes’ conversation with most men you can tell whether their treasures are on the earth or in heaven.” D.L.Moody
“The church and the world have become so intertwined that it is hard to tell one from the other. The world has so affected the church’s moral standards that Christians say they believe in Christ and yet have never bothered to change their moral attitudes and standards at all.” -A.W. Tozer
“The true Christian is one who is kind of sick of this world. If I find anybody who is settled down too snugly into this world, I am made to doubt whether he’s ever truly been born again.” -A. W. Tozer
“How can you pull down strongholds of Satan if you don’t even have the strength to turn off your TV?” -Leonard Ravenhill
“The world is about to burn and its foundations shaken by the almighty hand of God, and Christians sit nonchalantly before their television idol, wasting precious time.” -David Wilkerson
“Would that we could see the wall of separation between the church and the world made broader and stronger. It makes one sad to hear Christians saying, ‘Well, there is no harm in this; there is no harm in that,’ thus getting as near to the world as possible.” -Charles Spurgeon
“I believe that one reason why the church of God at this present moment has so little influence over the world, is because the world has so much influence over the church.” -Charles Spurgeon
posted by Patti Blount @ 7:52 AM
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