It might be easy at times to set our affections on earthly things. This daily devotional begins to look at the reasons why we shouldn’t do that.
Nuggets
- Knowing Jesus and living for Him brings us much better rewards than setting on eyes on earthly things.
- Pleasing God brings us much better life than setting on eyes on earthly things and pleasing ourselves and others.
- Living for God means that we live in a sinful world while trying to not sin.
To read devotions in the Redo for Godliness series, click the appropriate button below.
Devotions in the On Things Above series
Our lives are tied to this world, but we are instructed by God to not set our affections on it. Instead, we are to look to Him.
Beveridge listed reasons why we shouldn’t set our affections on earthly things. Let’s dig in.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of what we’ve discussed previously.
Let's Put It into Context #2
When we look up the definition of affection in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, it says, “the state of being affected.” Affect means “to act on and cause a change in (someone or something).”
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Let's Put It into Context #3
“Place no trust in oppression or false hope in robbery. If wealth increases, don’t set your heart on it” (Ps. 62: 10 CSB)
The verse tied with the fourth section in Beveridge’s sermon is Psalm 62: 10. If we break it down and really look at it, I think it has good examples of things we put our affections on here on earth.
The modern versions translate it as extortion. That just deals with money. There are a lot of other things on earth in which disciples don’t want to be involved.
The other versions translate it as oppression. It is an act that can have a lot of elements under it. Just look at the synonyms used.
- Persecution
- Abuse
- Maltreatment
- Tyranny
- Repression
- Subjugation
- Exploitation
- Injustice
Those are a lot of Satan’s specialties. And that is only some of them!
What? Are you patting yourself on the back because none of these apply to you?
Let’s just take an example of someone who thinks differently than the prevailing thoughts in society these days.
- Do you know people who make fun of those who do not believe as they do?
- Are they considered second-class citizens?
- How many benefits should be withheld from them?
- What goods and services should they not be allowed to purchase?
That is just questions I have heard discussed.
To me, they fit in the list. If they are not the full-fledged items on the list, they are the start down those roads.
If we are setting our affections on things above, disciples do not engage in these actions. Let’s take a look at the reason Beveridge gave as to why we don’t.
These Actions Are Beneath Us
“Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Phil. 3: 8 ESV)
Knowing Jesus and living for Him brings us much better rewards than setting on eyes on earthly things.
What we are going for here is more than just a head knowledge. Hodge wrote, “In the Scriptures knowledge is not mere intellectual apprehension; it includes the proper apprehension not only of the object, but of its qualities; and if those qualities be aesthetic or moral, it includes the due apprehension of them, and the state of feelings which answers to them.”
Resource
We can’t just know that Jesus lived as a man. We have to know that he came to redeem us. We have to understand all of the churchy words: propitiation, justification, salvation, regeneration, sanctification, etc.
Glossary
Instead of being content in the Knowledge of Jesus, we sometimes get hung up on what we don’t understand.
It doesn’t matter what we know or not know. What matters is that we know the One Who is all-knowing.
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Knowing Christ and striving to imitate Him produces His character in us. That means we see ourselves as we really are. We don’t think our way is the only way of thinking.
That means we see others as they are. We don’t see them as second-class citizens.
We fulfill the second greatest commandment. “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Mt. 22: 39 ESV).
Glossary
To change from oppressive to loving, we need to “… count everything as loss …” (Phil. 3: 8 ESV). We talked before whether God asked us to give up everything.
To read a devotion in the Forsaking All for Jesus series, click on the appropriate button below.
We said we can be obedient and give what God asks of us because everything pales to knowing Jesus.
These Actions Are Unsuitable to Us
“Those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Rom. 8: 8 ESV)
Pleasing God brings us much better life than setting on eyes on earthly things and pleasing ourselves and others.
We generally try to please everyone. Children try to please their parents. Spouses and significant others try to please their partner. Employees try to please their employers.
Binning reminded us that all of mankind was created by God. Because if that, he felt “then of all things it concerns us most how to please Him, and if we do so we shall assuredly be happy, and it will not matter whom else we displease (Psalm 31:19; Psalm 36:7).”
Resource
Those not trying to please God are not in Christ. They are in the flesh. The flesh is our human, sinful nature.
Glossary
It is important that we be in Christ. Binning wrote, “Whoever are not in Jesus Christ certainly cannot please God, do what they can, because God hath made Christ the centre, in which He would have the good pleasure of sinners meeting with His good pleasure; and therefore ‘without faith it is impossible to please God,’ not so much for the excellency of the act itself as for the well-pleasing object of it, Christ.”
Resource
That is why being a good person isn’t good enough. It isn’t about the act. Perfection is about being.
What this is really about is putting God first. David wrote, “The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God” (Ps. 51: 17 NLT).
This doesn’t mean God wants us one step away from suicide or a mental break down. This means God wants us to take the focus off of ourselves and put it on Him.
Any other action than putting God first in our lives is unsuitable. Paul wrote, “Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better” (Col. 1: 10 NLT).
So, we are to grow in the knowledge of God and produce good fruit. We just talked about “… [producing] fruit consistent with repentance …” (Lk. 3: 8 CSB).
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Those Actions Are Unsatisfying
“and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away” (I Cor. 7: 31 ESV)
Living for God means that we live in a sinful world while trying to not sin.
If we put God first, then we must put Him above the things of this world. This includes our jobs, our relationships, our hobbies, etc.
These things by themselves are not necessarily sinful. Lyth told us how they can be sinful.
- Excess. What makes them sinful is when we spend time at them and ignore what God is calling us to do.
- Abuse. Abuse can include emotional, psychological, sexual, financial, and cultural as well as physical.
- “The end of existence.” I would say that means we make it the pinnacle of our existence.
Resource
The problem with that is this world is temporary. “… Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them” (Rev. 20: 11 CSB).
Remember, John 15: 19 may say disciples are not to be of this world, but it never says we shouldn’t be in the world. God wants us to live our lives for Him.
Blair made a good observation. He wrote, “The world is always represented in Scripture as the great scene of trial to a Christian.”
Resource
Since this world is fleeting, it won’t give us the satisfaction that our eternal life will give us. We have to focus on the lasting.
Making the Connections
Think back to the Attributes of God series. We said that God was
- Eternal
- All-knowing
- All-present
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God is going to know if we are of the world as well as in it. He knows our thoughts as well as our words.
Benson told us the implications of that. He wrote, “He is, therefore, the most dreadful enemy or the most beneficial friend we can have.”
We like to think of other attributes of God. We like to think of loving, forgiving, providential, and good.
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We have to remember that God is jealous and wrathful. God is not going to turn a blind eye to sin. He isn’t going to label our arrogance as cute.
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We have to set our minds on God and change our thoughts, actions, and opinions to mirror His.
How Do We Apply This?
- Buchanan said that we have to use knowledge of Jesus to have “… direct and immediate influence on the mind.” We have to set our minds on making the changes needed to bring us to be more like Him.
- We have to have God’s character so that we can please Him.
- We need to open obedient to God and walk in faith.
Resource
We’ve only gotten halfway through the reasons we shouldn’t set our affections on things of the earth. We will finish it up in the next devotion.
Father God. You are our loving Heavenly Father when we repent of our sins and ask Your forgiveness. Lord, You are also a wrathful Father when we do not repent and turn from our sinful ways. Help us to become Your children by believing and changing to imitate Your character. Amen.
What do you think?
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