The Pleasures of the World

Lately I've been burdened by the pleasures of the world.

For example; I went to MSU and saw first hand what one of the college students at my church has to deal with on a daily basis. And a few other college students who I've been in touch with via email; letter and Facebook are all dealing with the pleasures of the world and what it means to be in the world, but not of it.

My devotional readings have been lately about not wanting or not needing anything but Christ. Christ is our whole portion that we need. We don't need anything else.

And just various situations that I've been in have reminded me of the pleasures of the world.

Now the pleasures of the world offer immediate satisfaction and pleasure. They offer a "good" feeling that will last for a short period of time.

And then usually, after engaging in this pleasure; when the satisfaction goes away; there enters in guilt.

And if not guilt; then something needs to be checked over on your sanctificationodometer.

It is interesting to me how Christians can sometimes make excuses for allowing themselves to partake in the "pleasures of the world" or even make exceptions to partake in them even when they know they are wrong. And even though they know they are wrong; they still think it is okay to do them; just for a little bit and just this once.

However, one exception turns in to a more frequent time; and a continual cycle is born.

This is why Paul commands Timothy in 6:11-12 "But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith."

There is a lot more going on here in the context of this passage; but the main three words here are "flee", "pursue" and "fight".  These are all three commands that we all should do continually.

1. "Flee these things" is a command to flee--run away from--all the worldly pleasures that are out there. "these things" refers to 6:1-10, but also all that is mentioned in the letter of 1 Timothy--fleeing all the worldly pleasures. The image that comes to my mind of fleeing is when a thief is running from a cop. The cop is doing everything he can to catch this thief; however, the thief is doing everything he can to get away from the cop--he jumps over walls, climbs fences; throws trash cans over, etc--everything he does is to flee the cop. The cop is a representation of the devil working through worldly pleasures and the thief is us; running as fast as we can to flee the worldly pleasures.

2. "Pursue" is the opposite of flee. Pursue is what the cop is doing in the above illustration. We are to be the cop pursuing a thief in jumping over the same walls; running  down alleys and jumping over trash cans, etc. Except we are to not pursue the worldly pleasures; we are to pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. This is quit the list of things to pursue if you ask me, but any godly pursue would want to pursue these things way more than the pleasures of the world.

3. "Fight" the good fight of the faith. Yes, as Christians, we are in a battle with not a physical enemy, but a spiritual enemy therefore it is a spiritual battle (Ephesians 6:10-17). And we too, must fight this battle. Notice that this is a "good fight" and it is a "good fight of the faith". It isn't just some pointless fight that we are doing; it is a purposeful fight that we engage in every single day and night. Our guard must always be up; for when it is down; then it is a time that we aren't fighting.

So this challenge is not just for you who read, but for me also: to flee the worldly desires; to pursue what a godly person desires; and to fight the good fight of the faith.

May the Lord bless the elect as they daily take up their armor of God and take their ground to stand and to fight.