Are You Living for God or Living for the World?

Today, I’m going to start with Scripture:

The Lord upholds all who are falling
     and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you,
     and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand;
     you satisfy the desire of every living thing.
The Lord is righteous in all his ways
     and kind in all his works.
The Lord is near to all who call on him,
     to all who call on him in truth.
He fulfills the desire of those who fear him;
     he also hears their cry and saves them.
The Lord preserves all who love him,
     but all the wicked he will destroy.
My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord,
     and let all flesh bless his holy name forever and ever.

Psalm 145:14-21

So, as I asked in the title of this message, are you living for God, or living for the world?

You can’t do both. James 4:3-5 states clearly that “You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, ‘He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us’?”

I woke up today, extremely irritated in my spirit.  During our devotions this morning, I was thinking of all of the lawlessness going on in the world. I was thinking of the lawless government leaders in Washington DC – and in our case, our state capital, Harrisburg, PA.  I was watching Portland, Oregon continue to be looted, and it took federal law enforcement in unmarked vehicles, to detain and arrest these individuals. I’m watching in cities around the country, where police officers, who are sworn to uphold the law, call in sick or outright retire, because they will not put their lives on the line, for a city government that won’t back them up.

We have “woke” companies and television networks, bowing to organizations like Black Lives Matter – this is madness! If I see another “support Black Lives Matter” PSA on television, I’m gonna scream.

EVERY LIFE MATTERS – I don’t care the color of your skin, I don’t care whether you’re straight, gay, or whatever, I don’t care the country you come from, or whether you’re native to the USA – your life matters.

All physical life (born and unborn) matters – I wouldn’t want to see anyone hurt or killed. Yet today, if you say this, you could be torn to shreds, physically, in the streets by mobs of unsaved people.

All spiritual life matters – 2 Peter 3:9 states that “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” – God wants all to repent, and turn away from their sin, and come to salvation in Christ Jesus, but God also has a promise, Jesus is coming again – and soon. Verse 10 of 2 Peter, is clear, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

This would be the Great White Throne Judgement. If you’re not truly saved, you don’t want to be judged here, because there’s no defense attorney, there’s no technicalities, there’s no witness you could produce that will save you. You’re either saved (your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life) through the blood of Christ – or you’re going to suffer eternally in the Lake of Fire.

Let’s go back to our initial scripture in Psalms, shall we?

Verse 14: “The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.”

This goes straight to pride – and the root of all evil stems from pride. Proverbs 16:18 is probably the best known scripture on pride:

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

But there are other areas that show that pride leads to sin, which then lead to downfall.

• 2 Chronicles 26 shows King Uzziah’s pride, which led to his destruction.
• 2 Chronicles 32 shows King Hezekiah with a heart full of pride. He became very sick, and after repentance to God, only then was he healed.
• Psalm 31:23: “Love the Lord, all you his saints! The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.”
• Isaiah 2:17: “And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the lofty pride of men shall be brought low, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.”
• And a word to those in high places and authority – Isaiah 13:11: “I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless.”

These are but a few examples of how pride is dealt with by God.

The LORD upholds those who are humble to Him, and raises up those who humble themselves to Him.

But fast-forward to verse 20: “The Lord preserves all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy.”

Yes, if you love the Lord with all your heart, if you’ve given your life to Christ and repented – turned from your sin and your wicked ways, and asked forgiveness, then God will preserve you. If not – your destruction and everlasting suffering in Hell awaits.

As a believer, you are a new creation – your old self has passed away. The Apostle Paul said as much when he said to the church at Corinth, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”  All of this foolishness being done in the streets, the destruction, the vandalism, the hurting and killing of people, is being done by unbelievers.

And if any claim to be believers – they aren’t showing it – the “fruit” that Jesus said we’d see from a believer, just isn’t there. So, are they truly saved? I’d be hard pressed to believe that they were.

Believers are shining lights to the world.  Jeannie and I pray each day that we are a shining light on this hill on which our home sits, and that we are witness to others.

Believers love everyone. We hate sin, but we love people. We want people to repent of their sinful lifestyles and habits. Hating people doesn’t achieve that end – we love people to repentance. Remember, we don’t “save” anyone – we only plant seeds and water them – it’s the Holy Spirit convicts and brings that person to repentance.

We can’t save someone hellbent on destruction of property, but we can be a witness to those in the world by our actions.

That doesn’t mean being a doormat either.  If anyone were to come to our home with the intent on hurting my wife or myself – or destroying our property, we are fully armed and are willing to protect ourselves and our families. God gave us what we have, and it’s our responsibility to be good stewards of what God has given us.

See my posting on what God has to say about firearms and self defense here.

So, I ask again – are you living for God, or the World?

You gotta pick one.

Your choice – your eternity.

Choose wisely.