How To Abide Forever

Love not the world, neither the things that 

are in the world. If any man love the world, 

the love of the Father s not in him. For all

 that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, 

and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,

 is not of the Father, but is of the world. 

And the world passeth away, and the lust

 thereof: but he that doeth the will 

of God abideth for ever.

1Peter 2:15-17

     The greatest of all the commandments is that we are to love God with all our heart, mind, and soul, and then to love our neighbor as ourselves: and this means that we take the love of God, that principled love to the world. Peter is telling us that this world is passing away, therefore why would any thinking, sane man love this world? It is due to the wonderful things this world presents to us as what we need to find happiness. Our fallen nature will drift towards that happiness, and this by our lusts, our desires to have more and more, and then less and less of God. Choices have consequences, as all actions have reactions, and some  consequences are good, and others bad, and those consequences affect more than you, it affects others, now and into the future. We must be careful of our choices and if we make a bad choice, if we sin, we have God, through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross who will forgive the truly repentant. Repent, turn around 180 degrees and walk away from that sin, this is easy to say, but often hard to do, but if we really love God, that is, if God, Jesus Christ, is the first in our list of priorities, and by the help of the Holy Spirit, we can turn, we can walk away. We do not allow the love of the world to control our lives. The control is given to the one who paid to have the right to control all who say that they believe in Him, and His sacrifice for sin on the cross. 

     We, those who are Authentic Christians, will seek out all that is pleasing to God. History, Christian history, will tell us of those men and women who sought a way to not have to deal with the world, to find some way to remain faithful, holy. Monasteries became a refuge for many attempting to remove themselves from the world and find a safe environment. Yes, they left the world, but the world did not leave them alone. They could not leave the world as completely as they had hoped. We do not have to become monks, nuns, or a hermit to find peace from this world. No! All we must do is to keep our relationship with Jesus intact. We will face trials, so did the monks, nuns, and hermits, and we are to remember that God knows of our trials, our persecutions, and will give us aid to get through them as He promised to do. 

     We live in a world, a culture that is entertainment oriented. Men and women are looking for the spectacular. Men and women want to be thrilled, to have a thrilling experience. It is not wrong to be entertained, or to be thrilled, it is even not wrong to look for the spectacular. Here is the question in regards to those things: what is your motivation and why are you compelled and is your motivation, that which compels you, the way you entertain yourself built upon, applied, the principles set forth by God for His children? We must evaluate our pursuit of leisure pleasures, entertainment and see if they are appropriate, not age appropriate as the world has divided adult from children as though wrong adult pursuits are not appropriate for children but are OK for an adult. This is a dichotomy of thought dividing sin to be different for one age than another. In making our decisions about the things of the world and the choices we make they should demonstrate our love for God. Peter makes is clear for us: the lusts of the world we are to avoid, the lust of the eyes, we are to avoid, and the pride of life a worldly pride, is to be avoided. We are, as Authentic Christians, to avoid, or engage in immoral or inappropriate kinds of activities. How could immorality, or inappropriate activities honor God? They cannot! 

     Who are you when you are alone? What will you allow when alone that you will not allow when with others? What are your values that you use in life that influence you, either in a positive or negative manner, that which is the fabric making up you? If, as with you, are learning what it means to be an Authentic Christian, and find it a life-long pursuit, and it gets easier when I continually apply good ethics, respect, and apply God's principles to my daily activities. For instance: what are you willing to give up? Will you not attend certain movies, no matter how good, how good the actors are, and if there is an actor that is immoral, is part of a cultic group, well known as a spokesperson, who promotes that cult, will you not attend his/her movies? Will you find a better way, one that is appropriate, to entertain yourself? Choices have consequences, and how would attending, and paying good money for, to see a movie where there is immorality, or has a person, a star who is a cult leader, be seen by your children, what will be the future consequences? 

   The opening Scripture by Peter makes it clear: only those doing the will of God will abide for ever! Life is good, has much to offer, much to entertain, and with good pursuits a person can enjoy this life, being an Authentic Christian, living as an example of the love of God. Choose well!

Who can bring a clean thing

    out of an unclean? Not one!

                      Job 14:4

Be an example of the love of God

Richard L. Crumb