- 1 John 2:15-17 — Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
- 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 — But this I say, brethren, the time is short, so that from now on even those who have wives should be as though they had none, those who weep as though they did not weep, those who rejoice as though they did not rejoice, those who buy as though they did not possess, and those who use this world as not misusing it. For the form of this world is passing away.
- Romans 14:7 — for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
- 1 Corinthians 6:13 — Foods for the stomach and the stomach for foods, but God will destroy both it and them.
- James 4:9 — Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
- Matthew 6:24 — No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
- James 4:4 — Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
- 2 Corinthians 12:4 — how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter.
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 — But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
There’s our Father’s Kingdom and the way things work there, vs Satan’s kingdom (this world) and the way things work here.
We’re promised by Jesus that we will receive a hundredfold in our Father’s Kingdom. But we are not told what all that will be. Imagine it like a game show, where there’s an uncovered box on the left with the most beautiful mountain and ocean scenery, the most beautiful people to lust over, the most tantalizing food and drink to consume, the finest possessions to possess. Then imagine a box to the immediate right that is covered with a dingy blanket with “Heaven – A hundredfold” written on it.
What we do know from the scriptures above is that the Kingdom of God operates opposite of Satan’s kingdom of this world. This world exists of: eating and drinking (especially for pleasure), finding a spouse and sex, acquiring possessions, finding pleasure in the little faults in this world (laughter), and business. However, in the Kingdom of God, there will be no eating and drinking, no marriage/sex, no possessions to acquire, no cruel/“funny” things to laugh at, and no business. But we are not really told anything else about how the Kingdom of God operates. All we are told is that we will receive a hundredfold in peace and joy.
Take NOTHING from this world. This world is cursed – it and everything that comes from it – including our fleshly bodies. And Peter tells us that the earth, the way it works and everything in it will be burned up. John tells us to “not love” the ways of the world and anything in it. Jesus says you either love one thing and hate the other, or the opposite. So you either love the way Satan’s world works and the things in it, or you either hate it and blindly look forward to “a hundredfold” in the Kingdom of God. Take John literally – literally hate the way this world works and everything that comes from it: food, drink, sexual lust over beauty, all the creations of man (possessions), the pride of: beauty, fashion, careers, athletics, intelligence, creativity, etc. Literally hate it all – for the world is going to be burned up on account of all the evil these things produce – and blindly look forward to a different way in our Father’s Kingdom – a hundredfold way. Hebrews 11 tells us that the godly men and women of old all shunned this world and looked forward to the heavenly country whose foundations are made by our God.
Christ left for us the perfect example of hating the world and taking nothing from it: before He could start His ministry, He had to be tested by Satan for 40 days and nights in the desert. What did Satan tempt Him with?: the lust of the flesh (food – bread), the lust of the eyes (possessions – all the kingdoms of the world), and the pride of life (casting Himself down). He also performed His entire ministry with the apostles homeless, eating no fine food and drink, but pretty much bread, fish and water, simply for survival – not pleasure – taking nothing from this world.
Blind obedience and trust to our Lord when He tells us to avoid the lusts of the flesh, eyes and pride of life is key. We’re not expected to know what awaits us on the other side, but when He commands us to hate this world and the lusts of the flesh, eyes and pride within it, we’re to be blindly obedient, maybe not understanding – at all – why (when they all seem so good), but just trusting Him when He tells us that they’re really, really bad for us.
The lusts of the flesh and eyes are like presents from Satan that are wrapped oh-so-beautifully, gorgeous looking and oh-so-tempting to open, hoping there’s going to be something really special in there that will bring you lots of joy and peace. That’s why they’re called “temptations”. However, there never is – never. The only things that exist within those presents are emptiness, misery and mental/spiritual destruction. That amazing dinner you’re eating out at a restaurant? Satan’s gift. That great tasting cup of coffee? Satan’s gift. That delicious soda you’re drinking? Satan’s gift. That amazing new car you got? Satan’s gift. That amazing new outfit you got? Satan’s gift. That huge big screen TV you just got? Satan’s gift.
It’s all just slavery to the hard slave-driver of The Lusts of the Flesh, the slave-driver of Money, and the slave-driver of Time, in which until you learn to hate the ways of the world and the things in it and free yourself from these slave-drivers, you will not be able to understand why these things are so detrimental. That’s where you have to just blindly trust God when He says these things of the world are very bad, and be blindly obedient to hating them and work on freeing yourself from them with much patience, self-control and perseverance in the midst of your trials you will face breaking free from them. Then you will understand and find true freedom, peace and joy.
The bare necessities
Now we do need some basic things in order to get through this world: basic food and water, basic clothes, deodorant is nice, toilet paper, plates, etc. Be thankful for these, just as Jesus gave thanks to the Father for His food. But hate the ways of the world for why we need those things: hate our natural (of this earth) bodies of death that need food and water from this world to survive, vs the ways of God’s Kingdom where we won’t need food and drink. We’ll always need clothes to cover our nakedness, but hate the world’s ways that value people by their clothes. Hate that our natural bodies need deodorant because they become filthy and smelly. Hate that we have to have toilet paper because our natural bodies have to excrete waste. Hate that we have to possess and clean plates because our natural bodies need to eat. Be thankful we have water purification systems to keep us from getting ill, but hate that we have to have them because this cursed world is full of germs, and so on and so forth…
Be content with and thankful to our Father for the bare necessities to get us through this cursed, problematic world, taking nothing more from it, eagerly looking forward to a hundredfold better country – our Father’s Kingdom.