Right off the bat I want it to be clear that I do not view the
above shown (or the below listed) accessories of life as inherently evil; I’ve
just chosen them because they hold a huge amount of influence in our society
today and are more likely to become “gods” in our own day to day lives thanks
to their popularity. They are being used solely for the sake of illustration and
are not to be viewed as worthless across the board due to many peoples abuse of
them. Thank you.
“All things are lawful, but not all things are profitable. All things
are lawful, but not all things edify.”
-1 Corinthians 10:23
In our day and age, we
find absolutely no lack of accessories that are available to enrich our lives
and brighten our days. They can help us feel more confident, inspired or just happier;
they can act as a reward for a day well done and they can act as a stepping
stone to a successful career. There is no end to the potential benefit of having
all of this right on hand! So, what harm can they pose us? Unfortunately, they
can cause unimaginable harm if we let our handling of them get a solid say in
how we live our spiritual lives. The scary thing about this potential addiction
(or whatever you want to call it) is that by the time you realize it has become
a problem it’s too late for an “easy” fix.
Well then, how do I
know when it has become a problem? Easy, take a good look on how this accessory
plays a part in your day to day life, is it something you can easily put down
and forget about, something that you like but can easily live without? Or is this
accessory a bit more deeply rooted in how you view yourself as a person than
you realized? Is it a struggle to put down? Do you find that it has grown from accessory
to a necessity? This can be extremely dangerous because it opens up a door of
temptation that wants you to define yourself as an individual by this
accessory. And when you begin defining yourself by these worldly and temporary
things it becomes easy to lose sight of who you truly are as a Christian. We
need to remember that whenever the children of God are described in scripture, never
have we read about what instruments they played, their favorite food or what
sports they are into; instead we read about how we are blessed, holy and beloved
thanks to our Heavenly Father. We read about how the children of God are to be recognized
as kind, humble, and gentle. We are instructed to be good people in the name of
our God and Father and to dwell on those things that are of good reputation,
not to be accomplished in the eyes of our day and age.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has
blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even
as he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy
and blameless before Him. In love he predestined us for adoption to Himself as
sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise
of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved.”
-Ephesians 1:3-6
“So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a
heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with
one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone;
just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you. Beyond all these things put
on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in
your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let
the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and
admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.”
-Colossians 3:12-17
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again, I will say, rejoice! Let your
gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your
requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension,
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren,
whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good
repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on
these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in
me, practice these things and the God of peace will be with you.”
-Philippians 4:4-9
The world would have
us think that our individuality (the very thing that defines us) can be found
in what movies we watch, what our favorite foods are, or especially our
hobbies. These are all fine things, and I’m not saying we aren’t going to have
them in heaven, but they are only reflections/shadows of our true inner selves.
The Christian’s truest, most pure, and most lasting self can only be found in their
spiritual walk with our Father. The trials, the victories, the times of self-discovery
and the times of confusion are the most defining aspects of what makes you tick.
Your spiritual walk is the most detailed, most sacred and most personal thing
about you. No number of worldly accessories and causes could even come close to
painting the truest picture of you and your relationship with your Father.
So then, why do we
fool ourselves into doing things we don’t even need/want to just to make
ourselves feel more valid? Because the world continually tells us a hundred times
a day that in order to be different from the “other guy” we each need to have
our own “flavor” of fun facts, talents and hobbies that we can put together as
a resume to present to new people we meet. The world wants us to define
ourselves more as residents of this world than the one to come! In the book of
Mark when Christ gives the illustration of those who hear the word being cast
like seed upon the earth (soil), He describes the ones who care more about what
the world thinks as those whose desires render the gospel useless:
“And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these
are the ones who have heard the word, but the riches, and the desires for other
things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.”
-Mark 4:18-19
In the book of James,
we read of those who try to satisfy their earthly lusts but also keep God appeased
at the same time. These people are described as ones suffering from an internal
conflict (also see James 1:6-8), they need to make a choice; the world or
Christ? And why do have they to make this choice? Because our God is a jealousy
God, He wants us all for Himself, unstained by the filth of this world and
fully reliant on Him and His grace:
“What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is it not the
source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so,
you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so, you fight and quarrel.
You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you
ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. You adulteresses,
do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?
Therefore, whoever wished to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of
God. Or do you think that the Scripture speaks to no purpose: “He jealously desires
the Spirit which He has made to dwell in us”? But He gives greater grace.
Therefore, it says, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the
humble.” Submit therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners;
and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be miserable and mourn and weep; let
your laughter be turned into mourning and your joy into gloom. Humble
yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
-James 4:1-10
In Matthew chapter 6
Christ has completely failed to give us any wiggle room when it comes to trying
to live two different lives under two different influences:
“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love
the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve
God and wealth.”
-Matthew 6:24
It is also interesting
how when Christ warned the apostles of stumbling blocks that the world would
cast in their path, He held nothing back in His graphic illustration of how we
are to handle them:
“Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable
that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling
block comes! If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and
throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to
have two hands or two feet and be case into the eternal fire. If your eye
causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you. It is better for you
to enter life with one eye, than to have two eyes and be case into the fiery
hell.”
-Matthew 18:7-9
I remember one of the
first times we studied the above text at my church, in my little kid head I
thought, “isn’t that overkill when it comes to dealing with this stuff? It may
be bad but I can’t imagine it would feel like that”. What a stupid, ignorant child
I was, here I am at 19 and I have felt this pain more than I would like to
admit. Oh! how quick we are to forget about God in times of ease and comfort,
how swift we are to cast golden gods and fall down and worship them. We are no
better than Israel! The very people who saw God overthrow Egypt, the very
people who God rained down food from the heavens for, the very people who God
provided water from a rock for showed no sign of hesitation when it came to
just throwing together a replacement god because Moses was taking too long for
their comfort.
“Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the
mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a
god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the
land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” And Aaron said to them, “Tear
off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your
daughters, and bring them to me.” Then all of the people tore off the gold
rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from
their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten
calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the
land of Egypt.” Now when Aaron saw this, he built an alter before it; and Aaron
made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” So, the
next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace
offerings; and the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.”
-Exodus 32:1-6
Look at us! as soon
as we become bored or don’t feel as “on fire for God” we put Israel to shame
with how fast and how many gods we can put together and worship in all of a few
hours! Today of all days we must be SO CAREFUL with what we let into our daily
lives, we have gods of healthy eating, gods of fandoms, we even have gods on
demand! No pagan culture could even hold a candle to the amount, the quantity
and the quality of our present age gods.
This doesn’t mean
that if we take our mind off of God for more than one second that we are
replacing Him, not at all! The danger comes when these gods start getting a
higher priority in our day to day lives. How is your prayer life? Ouch, this
one hits me between the eyes as I find myself prone to watch You-Tube videos
before bed instead of talking with my Father. How about our ministry life? Still
gonna be an “ouch!” from me; I find myself becoming too focused on making sure
that the accessories of my life don’t become gods that I ignore my brothers and
sisters in Christ because I’m too busy taking care of me. Goodness, we humans
are a creative and stupid bunch, we can worship any object/feeling on this
planet and still we act as though every Sunday and every Bible reading time is the
biggest sacrifice we could possibly make. Truly we can thank God that He has
already taken this into account when it comes to our salvation.
Just look at the few texts listed above from Matthew, James and Philippians,
God LITERALLY spells it out for us. He tells exactly what to focus on (Philippians
4:4-9), He warns us about trying to live two lives (James 4:1-10), He gives us
a clear picture of how we are to shape our character as those who are His
children (Colossians 3:12-17), He even offers us a fool proof escape from the
struggles of temptation, His Word and His Sword, we just have to pick it up and
use it instead of just looking at it and expecting it to magically do all the
work for us:
“Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put
on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes
of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the
rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against
the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up
the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having
done everything, to stand firm. Stand firm therefore, having girded your loins
with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod
your feet with preparation of the gospel of peace; in addition to all, taking
up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the
flaming arrows of the evil one. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword
of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
-Ephesians 6:10-17
“I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I
will confess my transgressions to the Lord”; and You forgave the guilt of my
sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be
found; surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him. You are my
hiding place; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with songs of
deliverance.”
-Psalm 32:5-7, A
Psalm of David
“Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may
exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on Him, because He cares
for you. Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls
around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. But resist him, firm in
your faith, knowing that the same experiences of suffering are being
accomplished by your brethren who are in the world. After you have suffered for
a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in
Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you. To Him be
dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
-1 Peter 5:6-11
I would like to end
this personal, side study that I have shared with you by reading in 1 Thessalonians
5. Here Paul warns the Thessalonians that the day of Lord, the very milestone
we are to keep in mind every day or our lives, will come upon the world
suddenly, it will happen when they least expect it, it will be swift and it
will be awesome, horrifying and all together unimaginable (read also Revelation,
Matthew 24, 2 Peter 3). We have too many sleeping pills on hand guys, we have
all of these distractions just a click away and enough of them to last us a
million life times. If anything, we should be the strictest Christian
generation that has ever come before! We are easily a thousand years closer to
the end of the world than the Thessalonians were and yet God still had Paul
warn them even though they would not see it. So also, should we, whether or not
we live to see it, also heed this warning.
“Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of
anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full that the day of the
Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they
are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like
labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren,
are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are
all sons of the light sons of the day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so
then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their
sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are
of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and
as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but
for the obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus
Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will
live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one
another, just as you also are doing. But we request of you, brethren, that you
appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in
the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love
because of their wo rk. Live in peace
with one another. We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the
fainthearted, help weak, be patient with everyone. See that no one repays
another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one
another and for all people. Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything
give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. Do not quench the
Spirit; do not despise prophetic utterances. But examine
everything carefully; fold fast to that which is good; abstain from every appearance of evil. Now may the God
of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be
preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring
it to pass.”
-1 Thessalonians 5:1-24
