WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: If you were on a desert island, which five things would you miss most? Be honest! Being above reproach John is not telling us we must cut ourselves off from everything that we enjoy. Having fun, shopping, looking nice, playing a sport, reading novels are not banned! But these things must not be the be all and end all of our lives (v 15b). What we do must be above reproach. Our desires, whether for clothes, money, super-fitness, status, can be our god. We can lust after the latest model of whatever we want, just as we can lust after members of the opposite sex (v 16). Having got what we want, we can flaunt it, thinking this will boost our position in life. Inappropriate aims The world John speaks of is a world where the desire for the latest thing, to be someone important, to be a celebrity are normal and expected ways of living. They are what we aim for. We devour magazines about current celebrities. And we try to emulate them. John makes clear that this is quite inappropriate. We must not inhabit that world of greed, casual sex and selfishness. That way leads to nothingness, for that world will pass away. Those who live doing the will of God will live for ever (v 17). Respond: Look at your list again. What could you honestly do without? Ask God to show you where in your life you might be making your wants too important. http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-09-26