Stewardship 107
The Bible is full of caution lights. I John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” John 3:16 says, “God so loved the world that He gave….
E.G. Link has identified “caution lights” that should warn us and help us.
- Caution Light #1 – We are falling in love with the world, when we are never quite satisfied with what we have. Solomon says in Ecclesiastes 5:10, “Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income.” Is your life characterized by wanting and getting more stuff?
- Caution Light #2 – We are falling in love with the world, when the things we own end up owning us. Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.” It is easy to get so emotionally attached to our things that we do not want to part with them or give them away. If you love your things “stuff” more than you love Jesus, you are in serious trouble.
- Caution Light # 3 – We are falling in love with the world, when worry about losing our things is disrupting our inner peace. Paul says in Philippians 4:11-12, “Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” If you have placed your faith in your things instead of the One who provided those things, you are in danger. Hebrews 13:5 points this out, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, ‘I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.” If we lost everything we own, would we still be filled with peace and know that our Heavenly Father is still on the throne.
- Caution Light #4 – We are falling in love with the world, when our longing to be there is diminished by our affection for what we have here. Bishop Kenneth Goodson used to say he wanted to see his mother in heaven but he wasn’t in any rush. Sometimes we know about heaven but we like what is here. Paul says in II Corinthians 5:8, “prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be home with the Lord.” Would you prefer to go and be with the Lord or would you prefer to be here?
We should all keep our eyes on the four Caution Lights and make sure that we are not an illicit lover of the world. Hebrews 12: 1-2 says, “ Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of (our) faith.”
