1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away, and its lust, but he who does the will of God abides forever. James 4:4 ...do you not know that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever determines to be a friend of the world is constituted an enemy of God.
It is difficult for us to point out the world item by item; the list is endless. But we should grasp one basic principle: everything that quenches one's spiritual life in the Lord is the world. The world is anything that kills one's zeal for prayer to God. The world is anything that takes away one's interest in God's Word. The world is anything that frustrates one from testifying before men. The world is anything that hinders one from coming to the Lord, anything that results in confession. The world is an atmosphere that chokes and dries a person up. It is anything that discourages a man's heart from loving and yearning for the Lord. Here we see a broad principle--anything that quenches our spiritual condition before the Lord is the world. We must reject it. Some people say, "This thing is not sinful at all. Can you say that it is worldly?" Many things appear to be very good to our eyes, but they quench the fire within us after we touch them once or twice. Our conscience becomes weak before God. After we become involved with these things, our Bible reading becomes tasteless. We may have the time, but we no longer have the heart for reading. After we participate in such things, we feel empty inside and have nothing to testify before men. Such things may not be a matter of sin. Our question is whether or not these things are quenching our spiritual life. Everything that quenches our spiritual life is the world and must be rejected totally before the Lord.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Watchman Nee, Messages for Building Up New Believers, pp. 78. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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