SCRIP-BITS

1 John 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.
 
A blessed Thursday to all you Friends and believers, wherever you are in this evil ungodly world! Greetings from the Most High God Jehovah, who has looked down with concern and dismay on the afflictions of His earthly children. He has seen them abused, suppressed, oppressed, persecuted and killed all because of their great faith in Him. And believe me people, His heart is heavy, but unfortunately we’ve got to follow the plan He put in place long ago; sending His only Son Jesus to die for our disgusting sins, so that whoever believed in Him would be gracefully granted the gift of salvation, which would eventually lead to eternal life with our Triune God. And don’t you think the Father knows that we’ll all encounter some rough times down here? He sure does. And so does Jesus, our Saviour, Advocate, etc. etc. Jesus knows it from first hand experience down here on earth, for He endured such hardship down here that most of us will never even come close to undergoing. So Friends, when the trials and tribulations of this world beset us, both before and behind, please don’t give up or give in. Please take solace in the thought that our heavenly Father knows and sees all, and in His time will reward us for our steadfast faith in His Son Jesus, and will exact the necessary vengeance from the wicked followers of Beelzebub. That means we truly don’t have much to worry about, just mainly keeping ourselves as free and unspotted from the world as possible. As John so rightly says in our Bit: ‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any many love the world, the LOVE of the Father is not in him.’ And I didn’t capitalize all the ‘loves’ because I don’t think that ‘love’ for the world should be lifted up, much less compared to or placed on the same pedestal as the Father’s LOVE. Anyway Friends, the reasoning behind John’s directive is simple; loving the world and the things in it are a curse, anathema to the believer’s soul. It leads us to all kinds of wrongdoing, idol worshipping and things that don’t gel with Jesus’ directives, His bright and eternal future for us. He came to earth and died for us, so that we could be released from the darkness of this evil world. Consequently, being enamoured of the world and its things will only return us to the sinful darkness that Jesus died so innocently and sacrificially to release us from. In other words, we’d be making a mockery of Jesus’ terrible death on the cross. It would have been a waste of time, all for nought. And that my Friends, is one thing we certainly cannot afford to let happen! Listen to Bruh Paul put it in his blunt, to the point manner: ‘I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable (rational) service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God.’ (Rom.12:1-2) Yes Friends, once that Holy Spirit comes to live in us, we need to change our entire lives, our entire way of thinking, talking and doing; forsaking the world and all the tempting temptations it holds, and accepting instead the grace, mercy, forgiveness and spiritual salvation wrought so dearly for us by Jesus’ ransomed death. Bruh Paul broke it down further for the Ephesians: ‘If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation (conduct) according to the deceitful lusts; And be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place (an opportunity) to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.’ (Eph.4:21-32) Oh Friends, I never intended to print all of that, but as I read it through, looking for an appropriate place to stop, I couldn’t find any, because everything there deals with being a new person in Christ, with putting away the old things of the world. The Spirit also seemed to agree, since He raised no dissenting voice. And sometimes too, we need more than just a general reminder of a particular doctrine, we need more individual do’s and don’ts to help up us actually and faithfully put it into practice. That’s what this section of Bruh Paul’s letter to the Ephesians does; it provides us with useful, everyday pointers of the kind of behaviour we ought to refrain from and the kind we must embrace, if we want to become true believers. And as you can imagine, it has used up all of our space and time, so we’ll continue this very important topic tomorrow, God willing of course. Although I don’t see why He would object, since we’re only trying to LOVE our God, LIVE our Faith, and SPREAD His Word. Till tomorrow then, keep in good standing with the Lord, and He will bless all your endeavours. Much LOVE!…through rose tinted glasses…the world certainly looks deceptively beautiful…but to the naked eye…its real ugliness and deceptiveness is revealed…