Morning Sharing: Self-control That is Out of this World

The theme is still how to truly saturate my inner being with self-control as a supplement to my faith. Yesterday, I focused on this: 

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. (1 John 2) 

It is easy to see how self-control is required. Part of that is being convinced that the world as a system and interaction of people is always and only in rebellion towards God, and that the things our sarks desire, the natural cravings of what we see (spiritual ADHD), and the sinful kind of pride in ourselves and what we do in life, are NEVER from God and ALWAYS from the world. Since self-control is first a battle for our mind, John is urging us to believe the right things. 

Today that leads to this: 

17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (I John 2) 

It is interesting that “the world” refers to the world system of rebellion, but we also know that the physical world is passing away and that it provides no solid rock for us to anchor our souls. The point is that, to nurture self-control, we must believe that neither the rebellious world of people, nor the physical world of creation, are ever going to give us the substance we are designed to experience. 

It is interesting that the counterpart to “the world” is “whoever”. This is a pattern in scripture that has really encouraged me over the years. God will speak of the “many” in reference to those who are not doing his will and the “one” who is doing his will. Even with the Laodicean church that was so lukewarm that Jesus was going to spew it out of his mouth, the whole church was called to repentance, but Jesus promised that if even one person opened the door to him, he would come in to that person and fellowship with him/her. 

All of that tells me to get my bearings from God and his kingdom. In fact, “seek first the kingdom and righteousness of God” has been flowing through my mind as of late. We don’t need to know what will happen, but only what is happening and how we express ourselves in the world by living in the kingdom first and foremost every day of our lives. 

And I have a prayer walk waiting for me to give this further meditation!

 

 © 2023 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)