"15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever."
How do you introduce yourself? Sure, there is the obvious name part, but then what next? Do you say where your from? What you do? Where you went to school? What about your spouse and kids, do they come up?
At church on Sunday (yes, I went) the guy speaking talked about the above passage from 1 John. It is a very easy part of the bible to create a bunch of "rules" about, but if you do, you manage to miss the point entirely. Basically, it comes down to this: Who you are comes from your heart, "the wellspring of life" and your heart has focusing issues.
As someone raised in western culture, I have been taught by most everything I see and hear that I am a culmination of three things: my pleasures, my purchases and my put-out. We learn from an early age to be productive and efficient, to operate as an assets in this world. Even our play identifies us; you want to be know as a serious skier? Own top of the line equipment. We even introduce ourselves according to these things.
So what of the distractable heart, does it buy in too? If we are to live from the heart and we spend our life chasing pleasures, purchases and put-out who are we saying our heart is really living for? At the end of the day, does your heart feel sucker punched? Did you spend your day living up to the world? Has your heart given up even trying to get your attention? Did you really live?
"26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”[a]
28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
How do you introduce yourself? Sure, there is the obvious name part, but then what next? Do you say where your from? What you do? Where you went to school? What about your spouse and kids, do they come up?
At church on Sunday (yes, I went) the guy speaking talked about the above passage from 1 John. It is a very easy part of the bible to create a bunch of "rules" about, but if you do, you manage to miss the point entirely. Basically, it comes down to this: Who you are comes from your heart, "the wellspring of life" and your heart has focusing issues.
As someone raised in western culture, I have been taught by most everything I see and hear that I am a culmination of three things: my pleasures, my purchases and my put-out. We learn from an early age to be productive and efficient, to operate as an assets in this world. Even our play identifies us; you want to be know as a serious skier? Own top of the line equipment. We even introduce ourselves according to these things.
So what of the distractable heart, does it buy in too? If we are to live from the heart and we spend our life chasing pleasures, purchases and put-out who are we saying our heart is really living for? At the end of the day, does your heart feel sucker punched? Did you spend your day living up to the world? Has your heart given up even trying to get your attention? Did you really live?
"26 Jesus replied, “What does the law of Moses say? How do you read it?”
27 The man answered, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.’ And, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”[a]
28 “Right!” Jesus told him. “Do this and you will live!”
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