Living By the Spirit of God!

“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” – 1 John 2:15-17 NLT

First of all, we have to know that every worldly material is actually for God’s use—the ways we are able to please Him. To be more specific, they are to be used by all of us to do the will of God, since the word of God proclaims, “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.” (Psalm 24:1) However, Satan, the enemy of God, has crept along and made the whole world to be used by their own selfish desires and passions (2 Corinthians 4:4) and to lead them astray from God (Revelation 12:7-9). This is exactly why Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross as an atonement of our sins, in order to prove us that He is the way of the truthful life (John 14:6). Moreover, because of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection, all of us are to be made holy, righteous and blameless in the sight of God (Colossians 1:15-22).

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21)

Therefore, we have to overcome the world (1 John 5:1-5) by crucifying our own desires and passions, and start living according to the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:24-25). In other words, we have to abide in the the Spirit of God instead of abiding to our sinful nature, in order to be godliness until the end of the age (2 Peter 1:3-11). “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8) This is the reason why the word of God declares, “You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. Or do you think Scripture says without reason that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us?” (James 4:4-5) These mean that we are not able to serve the world and God at the same time (Matthew 6:24). The main reason for this is that the desires of the Spirit is contrary to the desires of the world (Galatians 5:17).

Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone—especially to those in the family of faith. (Galatians 6:7-10)

Furthermore, if we are Christian, we have been gifted by the Spirit of God to have spiritual gifts (Romans 12:6-8) that we are able to serve one another with (Galatians 5:13) and to expand His glory and kingdom (1 Peter 4:10-11). The main reason for this is that all of us actually have been created to be the images of God (Genesis 1:27). “For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.” (Romans 8:29-30) Hence, Jesus Christ pronounces,

Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin 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)

To be honest, I do not like going shopping to buy any kind of materials or use what the world offers, unless it is essential for me to use them for living and the kingdom of God. For example, I like food shopping because nobody is able to live without food. In addition, I like going Christian bookstore to buy some of the books, or purchasing Christian books through my iPad. This is because I like to read them to gain knowledge of God.  For me, I see no point in buying materials unless it is for living and the glory of God, and use them to satisfy our sinful nature. The main reason for this is that if we abide into our world more, then we are drifting away from the love of God (1 John 2:15-17). This is the reason why I quit watching Korean dramas.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3:7-14)