Today I will continue on the series on hope, as it seems to be a very strong theme in our world today.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
This verse ties in both of my prior posts actually. As we look at the state of our fallen world, we must remember that it is the natural consequences of sin that are the cause of what we see around us. The Bible classifies sin in three categories, these categories are found in 1 John 2:16 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 (God), but is of the world.
Let's take a look at each of these "Sins" and see if we can give examples of them, then we will look at some of the teachings of Christ to see what His perspective is and what ours should be.
1) The Lust of the Flesh - When people think of this area of sin, they immediately think of what? Sexual Sin. However, if you look closely at the wording, this is not strictly talking about Sexual sin. This is talking about anything that is fleshly in nature, anything that gives pleasure and used to excess. Allowing yourself to be totally given over to anything that is not Fully and Wholly of God is Hedonistic, and therefore Sin.
Next, we will move on to the second area of sin.
2) The Lust of the Eyes - If we look in Genesis 3:5-6 we see examples of the Lust of the Eyes and The Pride of Life. We will focus first on the Lust of the Eyes. We read in Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Here we see that things that are beautiful, can trigger in us the Lust of the Eyes, does this mean that we shouldn't look at beautiful things? Definitely not, but it does mean that we must look at things through the Lens that God used when He was creating, He saw things that He created and saw that they were Good. In other words, he saw the purity of those things. We must refrain from allowing the Lust of the eyes from controlling us. We do this by meditating on the word of God, by praying without ceasing..... Having an attitude of prayer. Renew your mind every morning with the word of God and quiet time. I have found that my rides to work fit in great here. My android has a Bible application called YOUVERSION, I pick my scripture selection or devotion and it reads it to me...... I have found that praying without ceasing is actually much easier than I ever thought it would be....... Again, the ride in is a great time to practice this.
This brings us to our third and final area of sin.
3) The Pride of Life - Here is the essence of the pride of life, anything that exalts us above our station and offers the illusion of God-like qualities, wherein we boast in arrogance and worldly wisdom. If we look at the story of Eve in the Garden again we see if we look at Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods. knowing good and evil. Eve wanted to be like God in her knowledge, she was not content to merely live in a perfect world under His perfect grace and care for her.
Our Example of how to respond and react to these three areas of sin:
Matthew 4:1-11 The Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
It is important to notice here, that Satan was tempting Jesus in areas where he was currently weak. The Lust of the Flesh is the tempting point here. Jesus was tempted in this area not because Jesus was a glutton, but because he had been denying himself in order to obtain closeness with God the Father. So we see the Lust of the Flesh can just be simple food. What was Christ's response? He quoted scripture to Satan...... I am sure that Jesus spent plenty of time meditating on His Father's word and praying. The Bible tells us of many of these times.
Continuing on in Verse 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
This temptation fits pretty well into both the first and the last area, but it is difficult to see where it fits into the second area. It is important to remember that these three areas all intermingle and intertwine with each other.
I speculate that here he was trying to appeal to Jesus' in the Lust of the eyes area by quoting the word of God which Jesus had read.
Finally, the last area that is clearly The Pride of Life is found in verses 8-11
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then Jesus saith unto him, Get thee hence Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Here we can see that Jesus was offered a short-cut to what God offered him, Satan said he would bestow the gifts that God had promised, if Jesus would just worship him. Jesus knew that the Cross was the way that God had chosen for him to take. Here Jesus again used the scripture to reject satan's offer. We should use the word of God the same way.
It is very easy to put your hope in something that you can see, but this isn't really hope is it? The above verses and commentary are meant to help us see that we can place our Hope in God because we have an example of that in Jesus. This will keep us from getting discouraged, as in the opening verse, we must remember that God knows the plans that he has for us. In conclusion consider Romans 8:28 For we know that ALL things work to the good of those that love God and are called according to his purpose.
Father God,
2) The Lust of the Eyes - If we look in Genesis 3:5-6 we see examples of the Lust of the Eyes and The Pride of Life. We will focus first on the Lust of the Eyes. We read in Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. Here we see that things that are beautiful, can trigger in us the Lust of the Eyes, does this mean that we shouldn't look at beautiful things? Definitely not, but it does mean that we must look at things through the Lens that God used when He was creating, He saw things that He created and saw that they were Good. In other words, he saw the purity of those things. We must refrain from allowing the Lust of the eyes from controlling us. We do this by meditating on the word of God, by praying without ceasing..... Having an attitude of prayer. Renew your mind every morning with the word of God and quiet time. I have found that my rides to work fit in great here. My android has a Bible application called YOUVERSION, I pick my scripture selection or devotion and it reads it to me...... I have found that praying without ceasing is actually much easier than I ever thought it would be....... Again, the ride in is a great time to practice this.
This brings us to our third and final area of sin.
3) The Pride of Life - Here is the essence of the pride of life, anything that exalts us above our station and offers the illusion of God-like qualities, wherein we boast in arrogance and worldly wisdom. If we look at the story of Eve in the Garden again we see if we look at Genesis 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods. knowing good and evil. Eve wanted to be like God in her knowledge, she was not content to merely live in a perfect world under His perfect grace and care for her.
Our Example of how to respond and react to these three areas of sin:
Matthew 4:1-11 The Jesus was led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
It is important to notice here, that Satan was tempting Jesus in areas where he was currently weak. The Lust of the Flesh is the tempting point here. Jesus was tempted in this area not because Jesus was a glutton, but because he had been denying himself in order to obtain closeness with God the Father. So we see the Lust of the Flesh can just be simple food. What was Christ's response? He quoted scripture to Satan...... I am sure that Jesus spent plenty of time meditating on His Father's word and praying. The Bible tells us of many of these times.
Continuing on in Verse 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
This temptation fits pretty well into both the first and the last area, but it is difficult to see where it fits into the second area. It is important to remember that these three areas all intermingle and intertwine with each other.
I speculate that here he was trying to appeal to Jesus' in the Lust of the eyes area by quoting the word of God which Jesus had read.
Finally, the last area that is clearly The Pride of Life is found in verses 8-11
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; and saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Then Jesus saith unto him, Get thee hence Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Here we can see that Jesus was offered a short-cut to what God offered him, Satan said he would bestow the gifts that God had promised, if Jesus would just worship him. Jesus knew that the Cross was the way that God had chosen for him to take. Here Jesus again used the scripture to reject satan's offer. We should use the word of God the same way.
It is very easy to put your hope in something that you can see, but this isn't really hope is it? The above verses and commentary are meant to help us see that we can place our Hope in God because we have an example of that in Jesus. This will keep us from getting discouraged, as in the opening verse, we must remember that God knows the plans that he has for us. In conclusion consider Romans 8:28 For we know that ALL things work to the good of those that love God and are called according to his purpose.
Father God,
Help us to continue to put our hope in you in these times that look so desperate to us. Help us to learn from Christs' example, to read your word and mediate on it. Help us to carve out time to read and do devotions and pray to you. Thank you for the awesome gifts that you have given us. In Jesus Name, Amen
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