Attractions and Distractions!

Attractions and Distractions!

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 1 John 2:15‭-‬16 NIV

Context:

John writes to those who have been saved: who know the name that is able to save, and have come to put all their hope and trust in that name. The instructions in today's extract are not for the entire world, but for those people who are able to make the distinction between their present location, pursuits and priorities and the eternal reality of their daily decisions. Have I come to that point yet? Do I even understand the reality of my earthly walk and why the things that happen to me and the things I do daily matter? 

I am called to live by standards that are different from those around me. I am called out to stand out and to show the world what it is missing. If I am able to identify with and blend in with the world, then how do I make this God known? If my life is unable to shine out with the light and life of God, how do I present God as the One whose word is superior to anything the world can offer? Do I even truly know the God that John refers to here, or is there another god I know, follow and serve? 

Message and Response:

I may read today's extract and say that after all, I am in the world. Yes, there is a big difference between my location and my inspiration. I can be in a place and be so distracted that nothing about that place registers on my heart or eyes. I can also be in a place and the priorities of the moment where I am consumes me so much that I am unaware of what is going on around me. 

You see, the location is just a small part of the process; the most important part is the state of the heart. Do the things going on around me distract me from God or is my heart so focused on God that nothing around me can get into me? That is why this same John would write about Jesus, who in praying for his disciples, said: They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. John 17:16 NIV. Have I sorted out my location and inspiration?

There is this distinction that must be made between the earth, created by God, and the system of sin established by the devil when man sinned in the Garden of Eden. By the process of natural birth, we have been placed on the earth and made subject to the system of the world. We are subject to the laws and nature of the world until we surrender our lives to the one who has conquered the world. 

I am still on the earth, subject to the laws of sowing and reaping and the effect of times and seasons, but with my new life, I am no longer subject to the laws of the world, which is laid out by the devil. Until I surrender, the world has a hold on me. When I surrender, I am no longer under the dictates and oppression of the system laid down by the devil. Even though I am physically located on earth and the wars of the world rage on around me, I do not worry because by virtue of my new location: IN God, there is a hope and a future in view. 

Being in God does not keep me from the effects of the world, but I am assured that nothing of the world can take away that which the conqueror of the world has done and completed in me. That is the hope that keeps me focused; keeps my heart from the allure of the world and all its presents. It is the world that can give you something, yet cannot guarantee you how and where it will end. 

The world will present all its attractions to you, most times, without the price attached. It fastens to your eyes, ears, tongue, flesh, nose and heart. It makes it appear that if you don't have it, you don't matter. It may not even tell you too what you must do to get it, but it sows the seed in you and gives it room to germinate. 

This is why I must be careful about what I allow to settle on the processing centre of my heart. You cannot successfully process stuff from both the Word of God and the world. Both are parallel lines that can never meet no matter how long you draw them or try to merge them. Both proceed from two different taskmasters and both have very different eternal realities. 

I cannot claim to love God and also the world at the same time and to the same degree. The love for one will choke the other. And if I am truly headed for heaven, I cannot make room for the world in my heart. It then leaves the question for me to answer: which one is my present attraction? Is it the love of God and all he is, or is the world and all it offers? With God comes all that He is; with the world comes the deception that the devil can give you everything. The devil who cannot even keep his word straight. He is a liar, who cannot be trusted. I am better off with the God who can match his word with his name and give me all he has promised. His time of favour is here.