"lift off"

1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.

There are a few themes that run through the book of First John, like golden strands woven to make a royal rope.   Here are three of those strands:

    Abiding in Christ as He abides in us.

    Loving one another to show the reality of the Lord.

    Grasping the promise of living forever.

Perhaps one overall theme is to invest our lives in the most lasting way.  The passage from 1 John 2:15-17 exhorts us to "not love" certain things so that wewill love the best way.  We are told not to "love the world or the things in the world".  This is fascinating because we pretty much are surrounded by the world.  He goes on to clarify what he means by "the world".  It has to do with improper and unholy desires or lusts..base desires driven by our dark side...the aspect of our nature that is self centered and sin centered.  We just have to be honest and admit that one of the themes that runs through our lives is our inherent nature to satisfy these desires to please our flesh, our eyes and our pride.  We see in the verse quoted at the top (1 John 2:17) that all of these desires can only satisfy for a brief season because they are associated with our brief time remaining on planet earth.  "The world is passing away"...but the good news is that we can live eternally now, even while alive in the flesh.  There is a "forever life" that is ignited here like a huge Saturn V rocket (like those used to take astronauts to the moon).  Initially that rocket seemed to protest with massive noise and vibration the idea of being launched...and it moved only reluctantly up and off the launchpad.  But just as the huge rocket gathered momentum and ultimately propelled its precious payload into space, so our trust in God is a sure hope that our lumbering start on earth will surely lead to the vastness of eternity.  We can 'lift off' now...even while we walk the earth...when we set our minds on the Lord and overcome the base desires of sin and self with the greater thrust provided by our love for Him.

 

blessings,

Rob Smith