00.22am 1 January 2022: A short, broad-shouldered man runs frantically, but supernaturally strong, across the road. Adrenalin. His son is slung like a backpack over his left shoulder - a passed out young man (if not still a teenager).
This is how they entered the new year – a distraught father and a legless guy. To me, it was not just a sight for sore eyes, something in my spirit ached so deep that I could not sleep. My head was spinning (too many questions creating the havoc) - like most of those at the social cafe - but differently. To top it all, I found a torn piece of paper, a page from a Bible, later that morning on our porch. It must have been part of those joints we smelled earlier from our next-door neighbors. By their closed curtains, I could tell that they were still sleeping, or maybe they were not even home yet.
Have you been raising your glasses, sharing in the festivities and joined the countdown into 2022?
This subject may seem a little heavy to some, but we need to realize these are the characteristics of our society nowadays. We are in desperate need of a wake-up call. We were warned by Paul in advance that this will be the case in the last days. See 2 Timothy 3:4 “…lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God…”.
Let us be clear. My intention is not to create fear, but it certainly helps us all to be informed and to inspect ourselves spiritually to live victoriously and free until Jesus returns. Today, churches are full of professing Christians who think it is okay to keep one foot in the world and one foot in the Word. Are we stepping into our graves? Are our lives reflecting Jesus?
“The pleasures of the world are deceitful; they promise more than they give. They trouble us in seeking them, they do not satisfy us when possessing them and they make us despair in losing them.” – Madame de Lambert
Despite all our possessions and the pursuit of pleasure, the happiness index is the lowest on record worldwide. Our obsession with happiness and pleasure is taking its toll and we are becoming more and more disobedient. Yes, God wants us to be satisfied, but not selfish. He is not against us being blessed, but are we perhaps obsessed? We have crossed a line. Devotion to ourselves is more than devotion to God. Maybe we should guard our hearts from greed.
We try to fill the gap in our lives with fleshly desires. We search for the Light without realizing it. ‘Drink till you drop’ becomes a regularity, especially on New Year’s Eve. Then, as if it will help, we try to chase away the darkness with the fireworks at midnight. Later this same morning, we drink the hair of the dog to save the day.
Besides all the physical effects, spirit nullifies the spirit and distracts us from God. In moderation these things are not bad, but being intoxicated causes separation from God, which leads us to wrong paths in the long run. We need to identify these worldly pleasures to stay in touch with God. When we are too much into ourselves, we lose track of God.
Entertainment may give us a well-deserved break, but God should still be our top priority.
These types of social gatherings should not be our cup of tea. We should rather drink from the Fountain of life and get drunk in the Spirit.
1 John 2:16-17 “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions – is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
Verse 16 defines what the world system consists of in three parallel phrases:
1. Lust of the flesh referring to inordinate desire contrary to the will of God. In extreme it would include gluttonous in food, slavish in pleasure, lack of morals and selfish use of possessions, gratification of material desires.
2. Lust of the eyes means we desire what we see - positions, cars, and dresses. In and of themselves, they are not sinful, but the inordinate desire to have what we see is sinful.
3. The pride of life is the arrogant spirit of self-sufficiency – a desire for status, applause and recognition. All false views of pleasure; possessions and superiority are called the pride of life.
Luke 8:14 “And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature”
Are we here? Do we conform to this world? Do we realize that our message to the unsaved is made evident by the fruit of the spirit?
On the beach, later that day, I sipped on my lukewarm water, wishing for some ice or a steaming hot cup of rooibos tea. I thought “How can we gauge our spiritual temperature?”
Revelation 3: 15-17 “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked.”
This said, be reminded of John 3: 16 promising that we are saved by faith and not by works (Romans 3: 23 and Ephesians 2:8,9), but these worldly pleasures can impact our influence to share God and our true passions with the world. Yes, we are human – ordinary people, but we have an extra-ordinary Friend waiting to fill the emptiness with His love.
Oh, and about that gap…any gap in closeness with God can be bridged by recognizing the distance.
Before you ‘cheers’ again, think about saying cheers!
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