I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.** Philippians 4:12-13 (NIV)**
God desires for us to be weaned from the world. This does not mean we undervalue our blessings from His Hand as His gifts are a bounty of His goodness to us. Rather, it means we are not to grab hold of them with a vice grip or kick and scream if He so chooses to take them away. Like Job, who rightly acknowledged God’s sovereignty and goodness in his anguish when he proclaimed in Job 1:21 (NIV): “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.” All things from His Hand are working for our good – even the hard, even those things we greatly disdain.
God desires to wean us from the world because He knows that that is for our very best. Remember, this world in its present form is passing away. (1 Corinthians 7:31 (NIV)). And to forsake God and yearn only for earthly pleasures and treasures comes with loss, leading us out of God’s blessings – our Godly judgment being extinguished by our worldly appetites causing us to miss the sweet satisfaction of the Savior. Jesus wants to be our all. When we are full of the world we have “no room in the inn” for Christ. And when we are filled with Jesus, all else worldly we receive is simply a cherry on top – nice but not necessary and certainly not worth dying over.
It is also important for Christ’s followers to flee from even the temptations of sin. If we play with fire, more than likely we will get burned. We are to dread even the occasion of falling and flee from it as Jospeh did from Potiphar’s wife. If we freely venture down sin’s pathway we are more than likely to end up embracing it as flesh is weak and it is not to be trusted in - it will fail you. Flesh is also soft on self when desire is high. We seem to be able to rationalize whatever we want to do. God tells us our prayer is to be “And lead us not into temptation”. There is generally no victory over sin apart from the avoidance of it. We are greatly foolish to tempt ourselves by lingering long over it – even in our thought life. We are to trust Jesus with our lives. He is the One who will keep us from falling as well as keep us safe. We can trust Him.
To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy-- to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen. Jude 1:24-25 (NIV)