I Don't Need What the World has. The World Needs What I Have.

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

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Paul before Agrippa, shows us the attitude of someone who has truly experienced the unconditional love of Jesus and has a genuine relationship with Christ. When someone has a sincere conversion, the things of this world lose their appeal. The tenth commandment, “Thou Shalt not covet” is not a struggle to keep. When Christ abides in the heart, the Christian is not looking at the things everyone else has and wishing they could have those things too. Instead they look at the world and desire for the world to have what they have. This was Paul’s attitude as he stood before king Agrippa.

Agrippa interrupted him. “Do you think you can persuade me to become a Christian so quickly?” Paul replied, “Whether quickly or not, I pray to God that both you and everyone here in this audience might become the same as I am, except for these chains.” Acts 26:28-29 NLT

Paul is standing in chains and his prisoner uniform before king Agrippa in all of his royal splendor. Yet Paul does not desire what Agrippa has. He wants Agrippa to have what he has! Likewise those who have had a real experience with Jesus will not be looking at the world longing for what the world has. Instead we long for the world to have what we have.

Coveting becomes an impossibility when your heart is filled with God’s love. When your heart is filled with God’s love you do not envy the world. Instead you feel sorry for the world because it does not have the love and joy that you have. Instead of having worldly ambitions we have the ambition of Paul, when he said,

But my life is worth nothing to me unless I use it for finishing the work assigned me by the Lord Jesus—the work of telling others the Good News about the wonderful grace of God. Acts 20:24 NLT

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Comments

I Don’t Need What the World has. The World Needs What I Have. — 4 Comments

JohnHerscher on September 19, 2018 at 4:44 am said:

Amen. The 1st thing that came to mind is the lyric: Take the world, but give me Jesus; all it’s joys are but a name, but His love abideth forever, through eternal years the same…In His cross my trust shall be, till, with clearer, brighter vision, face to face my Lord I see. I have found that spending a thoughtful hour on the life of Christ, all the promises, stories, and instructions in the Bible daily, push the world out. I am up lifted by your work and testimonies.

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- William Earnhardt on September 20, 2018 at 11:44 am said:
  
  Thank you for your kind words John.
  
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Ndagire Florence on September 19, 2018 at 5:04 am said:

It is really sad that in most cases as Christians, we do desire and we long for want the world have not like Paul who knew that when you have God you have everything and when you have God you have Gold, you have life.
God lead me to desire your ways not the world ways and wants.Speak to me to have your ways , guide me to love your ways.

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- Richard Ferguson on September 22, 2018 at 3:19 pm said:
  
  When you have God, you have Gold. This is the true “Prosperity Gospel.”
  
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