Such is the world that assails the Christian, and which he must overcome--or perish eternally! He is aware of his danger from the strength, subtlety, and ever-present activity of this enemy of his soul. The whole current of Scripture commands runs against the love of the world. In every possible form, it is forbidden.
Worldliness is the most thronged road to everlasting ruin!
Worldliness does not merely consist in an intense love of money and an excessive eagerness to be rich, but in a supreme regard to that which is visible and temporal whether these relate to the quiet scenes of domestic comfort, or to those elegancies, splendors, and accumulations of wealth, which lead a man to seek his highest bliss in these.
The world is a foe which attacks us in various places. In the shop by all the temptations incident to trade and wealth. In the halls of politics and public business by all the enticements to pride and ambition. In the places of amusement by all the soft blandishments of pleasure. In the haunts of vice by all the gratifications of the flesh. In the walks of science and literature by all the delights of intellectual gratification.
In the social circle by all the enjoyments of friendship.
Oh, how many are the scenes where the world meets man and subdues him!
Sometimes the world approaches the believer with a smiling face, making promises and offering caresses, like the serpent to our first mother in the garden; or like Satan to our Lord when he said, "All these things will I give you--if you will fall down and worship me!" How difficult is it on such occasions to turn away from the lovely enchantress, to keep the eye steadily fixed on heavenly glories and instead of greedily quaffing the cup of poisoned sweets, to dash it to the ground!
If immorality slays its thousands, the world slays its tens of thousands!
[John Angell James]
1 John 2:15-16 ... Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
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