January 24 - Faith Rejects the World's Plenty
Scripture
- Hebrews 11:25 Choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin.
Observation
No one needs to be convinced that sin is often fun. It can feed our pride, satisfy physical desires and appetites, and offer many other pleasures. But it has two characteristics that the world does not notice: it is always evil and it is always passing. And, no matter how temporarily satisfying it may be, its satisfaction is destined to fade. It has no good in it and it can bring no good to us, to anyone else, or to God. Any seeming good is both deceptive and fleeting.
Sometimes we wonder why unbelievers, worldly people, the grossly immoral, and sometimes even criminals seem to get along so well. They are successful, famous, wealthy, healthy-well-off in practically every way. On the other hand, many of God's most faithful saints are poor, sickly, unsuccessful in business, and ridiculed. We want to ask with Job,
- "Why do the wicked still live, continue on, also become very powerful? Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes, their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God on them" (Job 21:7-9)
We want to plead with Jeremiah,
- "Why has the way of the wicked prospered? Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?" (Jer. 12:1).
Job answers the question when he says, "And suddenly they go down to Sheol" (21:13). They die and it is all over, except for judgment. They enjoy and get by with sin for a while, but only for a while. If we take James seriously, we will not envy the wicked, of whom he writes,
- "You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and put to death the righteous man; he does not resist you" (James 5:5-6).
But he precedes these comments with,
- "Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure!" (5:1-3).
The wicked are going to inherit a "treasure" of judgment they do not expect. As Paul says in Romans 2:5-6, they are piling up wrath that will break loose in the day of divine judgment.
Moses knew God was calling him to give his life for his people. He had a choice. He could have obeyed or disobeyed. Disobeying had many attractions. Among other things, it would have been a lot easier and a lot more enjoyable in the short run. It is hard enough to stop seeking worldly things. It is even harder to give them up once we have them, and Moses had a great many of them by the time he was forty. We have no reason to believe that he was ever involved in any immoral practices, but he enjoyed the pleasures of an extremely comfortable life. He had the best food, the best living quarters, the best recreation, the best of everything that his age could provide. These were not sins in themselves. Joseph had enjoyed the same pleasures in the same place, while being perfectly obedient to God. But they would have been sin for Moses, had he decided to stay in the Egyptian court, and he forsook them for the sake of God's call. He made a conscious choice to endure ill-treatment with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin. This was an act of faith. He believed that if He did what God wanted, he would be immeasurably better off in the end.
Understanding
What is God saying to me?
Faith, as one author puts it, is a long obedience in the same direction. We often feel that this life here on earth is long, but it needs to be compared with eternity. I know that this is difficult to do – think about eternity when the now is right here in our face – but the walk of faith requires that we have a long view.
God has called us all to holiness. He has called us to come apart from sin. We find it difficult because the world’s ways are pleasurable and fun and it seems like we are missing out. Obedience is not always easy, but in the end sin is much, much harder.
God's way is not only for His own honor but for our own good. Satan's way is for his honor and for our harm.
Life Application
What will I do about it?
Lord I’m keeping my eyes on You, following you. Let me not become so caught up and distracted by the prestige and pleasure of this world to the detriment of what you have for me in eternity.
1 Corinthians 2:9 (NIV) 9 "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him"--
-Pastor Gary