Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)
Where are our highest affections placed? In the temporal or the eternal? What we love greatest will most assuredly be brought to light by our thoughts, our actions, our time and our money. Ouch. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see this. While enjoyment and love for what God allows is not a sin – the imprint of His sweetness and goodness is evident in every good and perfect gift – we are not to place our highest affections upon them. We are to love the Giver more than the gift. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away and His Name is to be praised in both, as Job so eloquently proclaimed. We are to hold all worldly blessings loosely with open hands and not with a vice grip.
It is not too difficult to know when our worldly affections get out of line and become overly important and Jesus tells us we must guard our lives against this worldliness. The world, the flesh and the devil will always be in competition with the things of the Spirit - wooing us away from our true Love. It is all about priorities. We must learn to check ourselves. The cure for a worldly mind is to present far greater matters to the mind – setting our hearts and minds on things above as Paul writes. Certainly, if we were miraculously given the sight of heaven and hell, we would consider the world much less than we did before.
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Colossians 3:1-4 (NIV)