For A Rational Man To Be So Attached To A Bubble, Is A Most Irrational Thing!

1Jn 2:15  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.

Worldliness is an undue attachment to this world. 

It is living for this world-its riches, its honor, its joys and its cares.

It is living by the principles of this world: greed, covetousness, deceit and lust.

Nothing is more dangerous to the souls of men-than the love of the world.

Nothing more effectually chokes out the influence of the gospel in a man's heart-than the cares of this world.

Nothing is more difficult to avoid-than an undue attachment to this world.

Therefore, John sets these four words up as a beacon. 

They stand in blazing letters to warn us of great danger: "LOVE NOT THE WORLD!"

Beloved, this world and all that it offers, is no more than a bubble that soon must burst! 

Your money, your farms, your houses, your influence, your families-everything here is temporary. 

It will all vanish away!

We laugh at the small child who cries when the bubbles he is playing with burst. 

But, for a rational man to be so attached to a bubble, is a most irrational thing!

What fools they are who love and seek this world! 

I cannot warn you enough of the danger of worldliness-of loving, seeking, and living for this world!

Are you God's child? 

Are you risen with Christ? 

Do you live in the hope of eternal glory?

Then count this world to be a dead thing.

Live no longer for this world.

Set your heart on things above.

Live above this pile of rubbish that must soon burn!

Live to do the will of God, seek the glory of Christ, further the gospel of the grace of God, and serve the people of God. 

Quit seeking those things for which unbelieving men live, and seek those things which are above...life, immortality, and glory.

~Don Fortner~

Those Who Trust In The LORD Are Like Mount Zion

Those who Trust in the LORD are like Mt. Zion, which Cannot Be Shaken but Endures Forever.
 
As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people both now and forevermore.

Mountains? And the Lord like the mountains?
 
What is that?

It is fortification, it is strength, it is protection.

And what is the point of fortification if there is nothing against which to be fortified?

Away back in Old Testament times, when the people came into the land, the remarkable thing is that they occupied the higher places more than the lower.

You will find that their towns, cities and villages are almost all of them upon some high place...

The reason being that their enemies, who had chariots and horses, had their strength on the level, in the plain, but they could do nothing with chariots and horses against mountains.

And therefore the safety, security and fortification of the Lord’s people was by being on high places.

That is a parable.

If the enemy can get you on to his level he has beaten you.

So he must pull you down, he must get you down, he must get you to accept something less than God’s full place and mind for you, and then he will undo you.

That is what he has done with the church, speaking of the church now in very general terms.

He has pulled it down to this world level...

He has reduced it to the level of things here, and he has absolutely disintegrated it, broken it up and divided it and robbed it of its power.

The church which is revealed to us in the New Testament is always on high ground....

In Ephesians, it is “in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.”

It is a great power to be on high ground, it is a great defensive, protective factor...

The enemy can do little with you if you keep up there and refuse to come down.

Nehemiah found that to be so, when they said, “Come down and let us confer”; and he said, “I am doing a great work so that I cannot come down” (Neh. 6:3).

It is a principle operating.
 
~T. Austin Sparks~

Be Cautious Of Grace Denial

Beloved, mistake not the nature and the evidence of growth in sanctification.

In all your self-denial in this great work, be cautious of grace denial.

You will need much holy wisdom here, lest you overlook the work of the Spirit within you.

You have thought, it may be, of the glory that Christ receives from brilliant genius, and profound talent, and splendid gifts, and glowing zeal, and costly sacrifices, and extensive usefulness.

But have you ever thought of the glory, the far greater, richer glory, that flows to Him from the contrite spirit, the broken heart, the lowly mind, the humble walk, the tear of godly repentance that falls when seen by no human eye...

The sigh of godly sorrow that is breathed when heard by no human ear, the sin abhorrence, the self loathing, the deep sense of vileness, and poverty...

And infirmity that takes you to Jesus with the prayer: Lord, here I am; I have brought to You my rebellious will, my wandering heart, my worldly affections, my peculiar infirmity, my besetting and constantly overpowering sin...

Receive me graciously, put forth the mighty power of Your grace in my soul, and subdue all, and rule all, and subjugate all to Yourself!

Will it not be for Your glory, the glory of Your great name if this strong corruption were subdued by Your grace...

If this powerful sin were nailed to Your cross...

If this temper so volatile, if this heart so impure, if these affections so truant, if this mind so dark, if these desires so earthly, if these pursuits so carnal, if these aims so selfish, were all entirely renewed by Your Spirit, sanctified by Your grace, and made each to reflect Your image?

Yes, Lord, it would be for Your glory, through time and through eternity!’

~Octavius Winslow~