Wednesday, May 6, 2015
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.—1 John 2:16
I read a news story awhile ago about a man who was hitchhiking across the county to write a memoir he planned to call The Kindness of America. He wanted to write about his adventures and the wonderful strangers who had reached out to him along the way. But while he was eating his lunch alongside U.S. Highway 2 in Montana, he was shot in the arm during a random drive-by attack. So much for the kindness of America.
It just goes to show that people are not basically good, as some would assert. If you believe that people are basically good, then you have more faith than I do. Because if history shows us nothing else, it shows us that people are basically bad.
Why is mankind the way it is? Why do we do the things we do? Why are we always fighting and warring and having conflict after conflict?
We read in 1 John 2:15–16, “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. 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.”
We like to blame the Devil for everything and say, “The Devil made me do it.” Yes, the Devil can tempt you, but he needs cooperation. He needs to work with you, and you need to work with him.
The sinful things we do have nothing to do with logic; it’s just our nature to do them. It comes from within. And the faster we recognize we have a sinful nature, the better equipped we’ll be to fight temptation.
Radio Program: “12 Men Who Shook the World — I”
TV Program: “Tear Down This Wall”
Bible Reading: 2 Samuel 11-12, Psalm 51, Matthew 23
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Used by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie, PO Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514.
