A Sick Day

Unfortunately, my hump day turned into a sick day. How unfortunate. I skipped all of my classes. That is when you know I am sick. Since I have been in this season of school I haven't skipped a class. It's seriously been a year. Anyways, I am actually feeling better tonight, thankfully. My teachers were all understanding which was a huge blessing as well. Other than feeling terrible, the day was pretty decent. The downside was that it should have been a crime to be inside on such a beautiful day. Oh well. I did get some homework done and was able to spend some good time in the Word this morning.

As I have mentioned, I have been studying through John and this week we jumped to 1 John. There is some encouraging and convicting stuff. I just thought I'd share a couple of things that stuck out this morning.

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever." -2:15-17

There was a question in my study asking us to explain what the three things in verse 16 were talking about. I was discussing it with my mom and was just amazed. I have read these verses so many times but they say and mean so much more than I even realized and my mom really gave me some great examples. The cravings of sinful man basically refers to idols. This is anything that comes before God. This is the feeling of wanting to watch television, play on the computer, sleep, etc. instead of spending time with God. These things aren't bad but when they take priority they become bad. I am so guilty of this. The lust of his eyes refers to wanting anything that someone else has that you don't. For so long, I guess I thought it just was talking about physical lust. It is desiring to look like someone else, desiring to have that car, those clothes, that house, etc. Boasting of what he has and does is simply what it says. It is being prideful about the good things we receive or our accomplishments. These verses were convicting this morning, particularly the part about the cravings of sinful man.

Luckily.......

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." -3:1-2

I believe the question that followed reading these verses was, "what do you find encouraging about these verses?" My response: What can you not find encouraging about these verses? I love this! Not only does He love us...which is in itself an amazing thing, but one day we are going to see Christ for who He is. One day we will get to experience what it is like to be like Christ! I was encouraged. It is amazing how the Lord can take the days that we feel the worst and make them so restful and uplifting. We serve a great God. I am thankful that He knows me and my needs and He fulfills those needs!