For as long as it takes we are going to study the gospel of
John chapters fourteen to seventeen. Some of it will be what I have already
written and some will be new. Therefore it may sometimes appear that I leave
off in the middle of a topic to be continued, since I have reached my daily
word count limit.
To pick up the topic, you may need to read the one or two
postings preceding this one.
“This is my command: Love each other. If the world hates you, keep in
mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as
its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of
the world. That is why the world hates you,” (John 15:17-19).
Jesus
also made an interesting statement in our passage. He said: “If you belonged to
the world, it would love you as its own,” (V19). Does the world love
you... or does it persecute you? Are you popular or rejected? Are you bearing
godly fruit? No-one likes it to be unpopular, unwanted or rejected, but the
question is who we want to accept us and what our motivation for living is. Do
you want to be accepted by the world? If yes, then you would have to become like
them. At times in my own life when feeling unpopular was not good for me
anymore, I have tried to be accepted by the world, but guess what; it was not
good at all – I just did not fit in and felt like betraying my Lord. I do not want to be loved by the world.
They have nothing to offer you or me - no joy, no peace, no fulfilment and no
everlasting happiness. They have excitement and fun, but is it really fun? Is
it really exciting? At that moment it might be thrilling, exhilarating and so
on, but have you noticed the emptiness afterwards?
We do
not have to live in the world to be like the world. As church we need to be
careful not to have a form of godliness as we read in 2 Timothy3:1-5. Have a
read at it below and verify for yourself whether this is found only in the
world. Look carefully at your own lifestyle and those of the Christians you
know well. Think of what you hear being preached and ask yourself whether we as
Christians are not very much like portrayed below:
“But
mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.
People will be lovers of themselves,
lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents,
ungrateful, unholy, without
love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the
good, treacherous, rash,
conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its
power. Have nothing to do with such people.”
On
the other hand what is more exciting than to discover God - how He thinks, how
He responds and how He cares? Living with the Lord and seeing Him move through
my gifting and talents gives me a lot of kick. To see His loving care and daily
provision makes my heart beat faster. Yes I do enjoy a good movie and there are
some subjects in the world that interest me such as cars and classical music,
but all of it is just entertainment secondary to my greatest joy - worshipping
God with all my life. The more time I spend with the Lord, the more I lose
interest in these other things in any case. I do not want to create the image
of being super spiritual, because I have lots of times that I am not as close
to the Lord as I wish to be, in fact at times I feel and act very carnal and
get overcome by temptation, but my main goal is to become as close to Jesus as
I can.
How far away from the world and how close to Jesus
do you want to be?
Lord, help me stay away from the World and its
influences and distractions.
Have
a look at this video link: http://skitguys.com/videos/item/gods-chisel
Thank you Lord that your Word went out from your mouth,
via your servant’s pen, and it will not return to you empty, but will
accomplish what you desire and achieve the purpose for which you sent it.
Please pass this on if you
think others may benefit by it.
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