The world system that doesn’t recognize God as being God, offers things to keep us from God.
The threefold invite is to accept self as God:
A craving for your own personal physical pleasure.
A craving for everything you personally see.
Boastful pride in your personal achievements and possessions.
That last sentence of this verse should bring us to a full stop. “These are not from the Father, but are from this world.”
God is saying that these three attitudes are not of Him
and have no godly aspect.
Don’t go all weird here. The physical craving for food is not what we’re talking about here. Nor are we discussing the sexual pleasure found in one’s spouse.
This is the gnawing craving for physical pleasure that drives a person to step outside marriage for sexual pleasure. It’s the lackadaisical attitude toward sexual encounters that leads people to have multiple partners.
It’s the craving that makes all other decisions minuscule in light of this one–nothing matters as much as receiving physical (sexual) pleasure.
Marketers count on the craving for everything you see. That’s something we recognize in children, not so much in ourselves. As adults, we see this play out when we ignore the needs of family in order to get the newest, brightest, best thing–car, phone, gadget, computer, animal, vacation, and the list goes on. A commercial comes on and we’re mesmerized by the pretty new thing and when we see that commercial again, it’s settled in our minds that we MUST have that thing, even if the only money we have right now is for our child’s school clothes or our groceries for the month.
Lastly, pride. This one is sneaky. We can be proud about what we accomplish, but the puffed up, arrogant pride that says “I did all this” is not pleasing to the Father. It’s what took Nebuchadnezzar down.
We must be careful to avoid these things, and really, there’s only one way: Heed the Holy Spirit’s guidance. As a believer, He lives in you to guide, correct, rebuke, and instruct you. Listen closely and obey what you hear. Choose God over self every time.
Coffee, Bible, Journal
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