Presenting ...
... a weekly letter of encouragement.
24 December 1997 - Singapore
Good Morning!
LET'S ADMIT IT! MANY OF US HAVE BEEN CARRYING ON A SECRET
LOVE AFFAIR FOR YEARS!
And doing a pretty good job of masking it from our fellow believers
in Christ. And why do we continue the "affair"?
Simply because we love how it:
- Panders our appetite for sensual gratification
- Entices our eyes and caters to the greedy longings of our
mind, and
- Fosters our desire to live a life of pretension .+
The "love affair" to which I am referring
is our surrender to the evil values of this world system that
governs the goings on of mankind; a system which is headed by
none other than Satan himself - "The Prince of this world."
(John 12:31; 14:30)
If we have capitulated to this Prince by currying a
"love affair" with his domain, we have a serious
problem. You see, as professed followers of Jesus Christ,
God will not allow us the luxury of two loves:
"If anyone loves the world, the love of the
Father is not in him." (I John 2:15)
We simply cannot have it both ways: Loving the "world"
and loving God.
So how does one extricate oneself from a "love affair"
with this world? Jesus' prayer to the Father concerning the
12 disciples (Judas excepted), the night before the cross, gives
us insight into the answer to that question:
"I have given them your word and the world
has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I
am of the world. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth."
(John 17:14, 17)
The inner transformation affected by the
disciples' intake of the word of God signaled to the world that
they were no longer one of them. So the world "hated"
them. In a similar vein, Paul stated that he was "crucified
to the world and the world to (him)." (Galatians
6:14b). He in kind had grown to hate the "world system."
In other words, both sides had written the other off because
there was no longer common ground for fellowship.
SO...THE BIG QUESTION IS:
Are you resisting the world's seductive charm by the inner change
that results from consistent, and disciplined meditation upon
God's word?
If not, you are choosing by default
to foster your "love affair" with the "Prince
of this world's"
dominion. And in so doing you have become God's adversary, because
"Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes
an enemy of God." (James 4:4).
My prayer is that you are having a great week!
Dwight Hill
+Adapted from I John 2:16
- 1 Coleman Street #02-34
The Adelphi - Singapore 0617 .
- Phone: 337 6498; Fax: 336 9913
(c) Copyright 1996 Dwight Hill. Unlimited permission to copy or use is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.
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