“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is 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.” (I John 2:15-17)
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By Scott Phillips
Is this not in a nutshell the pursuit of the carnal man? The things men can look at give them the evidence they need to judge us. With such as the outward appearance, they can determine if we have this “SSS” in our lives. Too often we fail to follow the admonition, “Set your affection on the things above.”
I have found in my own life, after forsaking all of the dreams of my youth to follow the call of God, so often I found myself frustrated because of a lack of, or not enough of the “SSS.”
The pursuit of the triple S is as opposed to the ways of God as the Nazi’s were opposed to the Jews. They are the cornerstones of the carnal mind.
Who among us does not desire success? The difficulty arises when we want to be judged successful in the eyes of certain ones.
Who among us do not desire status? We must be sure that we are seeking the approval of the Father and not men.
Stuff… Are we not all dying from the dreaded disease of “stuff- itis?” The insatiable desire for something we do not have. I was born with it. Rolaids, Maalox, Milk of Magnesia, and Cortisone 3 do not heal or soothe it away.
It matters not how poor or rich you may become, there is always a desire for the unnecessary, useless things. Come to my house, and you will see I too have the disease.
The question I must ask myself is this, “Is this what I wanted when I sought the will of God?”
When I told God, “Wherever You want me to go, do, or say, I will.” Is this what I had in mind?
The answer is no. Something happens in us, when we have walked a little distance from our altars of surrender, we begin to “come down to earth” and the desires, we find, are not dead. I am not speaking of the sinful; I am speaking of the carnal. Sadly, we see so many in pursuit of the carnal, outward proof of earthly “SSS,” compromise the holy and eventually lead to shipwreck.
When Jesus died, He was a failure. He had only one disciple at the cross. He fled from status, when they tried to make Him king. In His admonition to a “wannabe” disciple, he said, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the son of man hath not a place to lay his head.”
Jesus did not give them a plan on how to have church growth nor how to raise money. He simply taught self-denial, forsaking of all to follow Him. This does not jell well with the prophets of profit, the men that write books on how to have the “SSS.” It seems many preach a gospel, a different gospel.
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