January 13 - Dirt

Today was our fourth day out of school. In a way, I have enjoyed this secondary winter break, but at the same time, I'm ready to get the ball rolling. We are continuing the 2x2x2min workout today. Tomorrow will be the last day of week 2. Then we are bumping it up to 3x3x3 minutes. I sure hope it warms up quickly.

1 John 2:15-17

15 Do no love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

Let's begin by looking at Genesis 1:1. "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth". From this verse on, we see evidence of God's creation. He made this world. John the Apostle is telling us to not have love for the world. Confusing, right? Well, when we dig deeper into the verse we find that he is specific in his examples of what we shouldn't love in the world. The cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes, and bragging or boasting about the thing he has or does.

God's created universe was beautiful and perfect. Then in the garden, Adam and Eve perverted and changed the course of history. Since then, humans have been warping and twisting God's creation in every direction. God wants us to love His world. The animals, trees, the ground we walk on are all great things they are evidence of His might and power. However, when we begin to desire and show feelings of want and idolatry to things such as: alcohol, porn, money, boats, fancy cars, jewelry, stocks, violence, drugs, etc...we end up hurting God and hurting His image in us. Just because we have a sinful nature embedded in us, doesn't mean we can just give up and give in to the world and it's darkness. Just as verse 15 states, if we love the worldly things we are surrounded by, we do not have or show the love that God has for us in our lives.

We are to be useful tools for God. We should speak against things like pornography, drugs, alcohol, pre-marital sex, affairs within marriage, but to be honest, we don't. We turn a blind eye to those things, because we don't want to be involved with it at all or we are involved and we don't want anyone to know about it. God's love is strong. It is stronger than any worldly object or idea. Our sinful nature prevents us from letting that love grow and expand into the lives of those around us.

I can save up my money for the next 30 years to buy the sweetest spaceship that Nissan or Ferrari is selling at that point, but when I die, I can't take it with me to Heaven. I can spend hours watching dirty movies and listening to awful music, but in the end, I'm just wasting minutes and hours of my life (while perverting my mind). I can drink myself to sleep at night and pop pills to kill any pain in my life, but after all is said and done, I have destroyed my life in addictions and wasted my money.

We take nothing to Heaven with us when we die...except for the crowns of glory that we will lay at the Father's feet. What's worth living for? What's worth dying for?

My answer is the same for both questions.