Tag: desires

Loving the Things in the World

OLD TESTAMENT: Jeremiah 10-11

POETRY: Psalm 115

NEW TESTAMENT: 1 John 2

What do you love? Love is such a flexible word. I love God. I love my wife. I love my children. I love my favorite sports teams. I love eating a good fettuccine alfredo. I love ice cream. The way we use the word “love” varies widely on the context.

In 1 John 2, John spends some time contrasting the way that we love the things of the world with our love for God. And while his words may sound harsh, there is a great lesson for us in them:

1 John 2:15-17 (ESV)

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 of life–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.

John commands us to not love the world or the things in the world. Does this mean that we are not to love people, like Jesus commands us to? Of course not! John is using expansive language to remind us of a key point: we are not to love the evil things we find in the world.

There is evil all around us: in the media, on TV, in movies, and on the Internet. We are bombarded with images all day everyday. While they had evil imagery in the ancient world, our modern world far outstrips the ancient world in how easy it is to see evil things and how often we are assailed with these images.

So what is John asking us to do? He is asking us to love the things of God, which means that we should avoid the evil of the world. We all have innate desires in our flesh that are not godly. If we act on those desires, we are separating ourselves not only from God through our sin, but we are also consciously deciding that our way of living is better than living the way God says that we should.

Friends, that is a dangerous place to be. I know that I have walked in darkness at times, enjoying the desires of the flesh and of the eyes. But what I found is that those dark places lead nowhere good. God does not want us to avoid sin because we are good little trained creatures. It’s not like God is running a circus, and we get to play the part of the circus animals, just jumping through hoops of fire to prove to God that we love Him. That’s not it.

God designed life. God designed us. He loves us. He wants the best for us. Just like I tell my children “no” from time to time, that does not mean that I do not love them. I want what is best for my kids, even when something wrong or dangerous looks attractive to them.

Let’s avoid the evil things that our world is trying to sell to us. Let’s be examples of love and light instead. As we do so, we are examples to others of what life will look like in the coming kingdom of God. The kingdom of God and the things of God will abide forever.

-Will Barlow

REflection Questions

Do you have a love for the things of this world that is unhealthy? What can you do to return to a purer love for God?

    Have you ever noticed that when you feed your mind something, it focuses on that concept more and more? How can you guide your thoughts in a healthier direction?

    When people look at your life, can they recognize the kingdom of God? Can they see the fruit of the spirit, evidence of a changed heart and life?

    sglcalendar2024Download

    Delighting In God!

     

    psalm 37 4

    I enjoy walking my dog and try to do that several times a week in the morning. It’s a wonderful time to think and talk to God before the busyness of the day takes over. So, I was thinking about what I wanted to write about and Psalm 37: 4 kept coming to mind. When I think of this verse two young ladies come to mind that I will channel this morning. My niece Kaitlyn Walters, used this verse in a devotion umpteen years ago at Southeast Camp and Jennie Montgomery spoke on this subject at Guthrie Grove at the graduation service last year. The brain is a really amazing thing with all the information it keeps stored up for us!

    So I will break down the verse, what does it mean to “Delight yourself in the Lord”? Delight means: a high degree of gratification or pleasure: joy. I think when you feel joy and pleasure when in the presence of the Lord, that you will want to spend time with him. You will want to get to know Him better. When we meet people that we enjoy; we talk to them, text them, ask questions to find out their likes, dislikes, their thoughts. We want to get to know them. It is the same way with God, to really know Him and delight ourselves with Him is to want to get to know Him better every day.

    “He will give you the desires of your Heart.” When we are delighting in God, we are in tune with Him and His will for our lives. Our desires will parallel His and we will find fulfillment in Him and not in the things that the world would have us desire, like riches, fame, and power. The greatest example of someone who delighted in the Lord, would be Jesus. Jesus loved spending time with His Father. At the age of 12, in Luke 2:49, it says: “And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business? ”At that age, he was in the temple, trying to learn about His Father, he was delighting himself in the Lord. He would go and spend hours praying to God.  Before he was led to the cross, he said “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” Jesus, did not ask His father for riches or honor. In fact even though he didn’t want to die, he submitted to the Father, because he was willing to let His desires become one with his Father’s will. I pray that we will all delight in the Lord, spend time with Him, and that the desire of all of our hearts will to be to spend eternity with our Father in the Kingdom.

    Sherry Alcumbrack

     

    Pasta! And Empathy

    Friday

    Luke 6-31

    When talking about empathy in Bible, this one verse probably comes to mind before all others.

    Luke 6:31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

    If empathy is about being able to see and understand the world from another’s perspective, then a deep understanding and practice of empathy should be a prerequisite for enacting this command.

     

    There are two ways that we can approach this Christian calling.  The first and easier of the two requires only that we understand what we want and then providing that for others.  For instance, I love pasta.  All kinds of pasta.  So, I will pasta unto others as I would want others to pasta unto me.  But there’s a catch.  My wife can’t have gluten.  So, if I just pasta unto her all the pastas I love, then she will quickly not love them or me at all.

     

    This kind of action only requires us to reflect upon ourselves.  What is it that we want?  How do I understand what is good and pleasurable and worth sharing?  At its heart, this is still a self-centered approach to loving others because my interests are the center of my actions.

     

    The second kind of approach requires us to reflect on both what we appreciate and the context in which we find ourselves (an awareness of those around us).  In this situation, I know that I love pasta when I’m hungry.  I see that my wife is hungry and I want to provide her with the same satisfaction I get when someone gives me pasta.  But since she can’t have gluten, I know that I need to give her something that will be as delicious and comforting as pasta would be for me.

     

    In this version of the story, I have taken my own desires out of my focus and instead placed her at the center.  Now I want to create the same type of joy in her that I experience, but in a way that is specific to her life and preferences.

     

    OK – pasta may be a silly example, so let’s take it up a notch.  What about when someone approaches you and asks for some spare change.  What do you do?  If I simply place myself into their shoes and imagine what it would be like to be in such a dire situation that I would ask strangers for money, then I may reach into my pocket.  But what have I done in that moment?  I haven’t actually engaged in an act of empathy, but rather in an act of pity.

     

    Empathy requires that we first acknowledge and open ourselves up to another.  We have to take the time to learn what it means for another to live in their shoes.  It means engaging with them as an equal and full person.  Pity minimizes another’s humanity.  Empathy embraces and supports it.

     

    Doing unto them as I would want done unto me may mean that they still get my change in the end.  But it would only be after I had engaged with them as a full person.  That may mean I find out who they are, where they’ve been, what their life is like, and how I can be an encouragement/help to them today.  It may mean sitting down for a meal on the curb or even being honest about giving money.  In any situation, it means engaging with them on a personal level – like you would with a friend in the hall who you haven’t seen in a while.

     

    This is the tricky part of empathy.   It always requires a unique action for each unique situation.  But it always demands that we interact and engage with others in the fullness of their humanity.

    Today, may your fullness be recognized and may you encourage the fullness of life in others.

    -Graysen Pack

    REMEMBER (Numbers 15-17)

    September 5

    talon mon

    By Talon Paul

    In this section of reading, it can get very overwhelming to read with all of the laws that God gives to the Israelites that may not matter to us in 21st century America very much. However, one of the laws that God gives the Israelites should draw our attention and is very important to understand.

    In Numbers 15:38-41, God commands the Israelites to wear ‘tassels’ on their outfits, but it isn’t just so that they look fashionable and “cool”. God has commanded this so that, as verse 39-40 state, the Israelites will remember all that God has done for them and to remember to do all that God commanded.

    We as Christians have a very firm and more powerful reminder to do what God has commanded: the cross. A man, Jesus, was literally tortured and executed because of our sins. We can look back to this as a reminder of the fact that God has given us a way to be forgiven of our sins, but also as a reminder that, because of that sacrifice, we need to obey the commands of Jesus and God. When we do this, it keeps us from sinning against them and gives us a hope for the future.