Make Every Moment Count

Mature Faith from Essentials Church on Vimeo.

I am a follower of Christ and as such I want to be a mature Christ-follower. Part of that means I am faithful and consistent in my Christian walk. For this reason, I walk in the light.

When you commit your life to Jesus, you make a specific promise to Him: not to love anyone or anything else more than Him. And yet the pull of the world for your love is a great temptation. Here is a story of a man who kept his promise.

One day, President Abraham Lincoln was riding in a coach with a colonel from Kentucky. The colonel took a bottle of whiskey out of his pocket. He offered Mr. Lincoln a drink. Mr. Lincoln said, ‘No thank you, Colonel. I never drink whiskey.’ In a little while, the colonel took some cigars out of his pocket and offered one to Mr. Lincoln. Again Mr. Lincoln said, ‘No, thank you, Colonel.’ Then Mr. Lincoln said, ‘I want to tell you a story.’

“‘One day, when I was about nine years old, my mother called me to her bed. She was very sick. She said, ‘Abe, the doctor tells me that I am not going to get well. I want you to be a good boy. I want you to promise me before I go that you will never use whiskey or tobacco as long as you live.’ I promised my mother that I never would, and up to this hour, I kept this promise! ‘

“The colonel put his hand on Mr. Lincoln’s shoulder and said, ‘Mr. Lincoln, I would not have you break that promise for the world! It is one of the best promises you ever made. I would give a thousand dollars today if I had made my mother a promise like that and had kept it like you have done. I would be a much better man than I am!’”

If you are a follower of Christ today, then you have made a promise to save your love for God. John writes to us to teach us to say no to a love for the world and to say yes to a love for Christ.

A sign of Mature Faith is that you love God and want others to come to love Him too.

So here’s the central truth from our passage today:

► Avoid the Lures of the World and Experience the Joys of Serving Christ.

Does that picture who you want to be? Do you want to love God above all others? Do you want to experience the joy of serving Him more than anyone or anything else?

Read 1 John 2:12-17;

► As You Grow in Your Faith, You Will Win More Battles Over the Lures of the World.

1 John 2:12-14

In the church, in God’s family, there are various stages of growth. What John is writing applies to every stage of the believer’s growth. No matter who you are, how weak or strong you are, this message applies to you. This is a message for the whole church.

Many people who claim to be Christians are in fact not Christians at all. If you see a bird that looks like a duck and quacks like a duck and waddles like a duck and eats like a duck, then you get the idea that such a bird is probably a duck. If you see a person act like the world, love the world, put the world before his relationship with God, then you are driven to certain inevitable conclusions. They must be a worldly person not a spiritual person.

► Say No to the Messages of the World.

1 John 2:15-16

A particular man is being talked about here, the man who loves the world. Later, in 1 John 2:17 we will learn that another man is being talked about, the man who does the will of God.

Here is a definition of worldliness that I believe we can all agree on and relate to:

Worldliness is anything that keeps you from loving God as you ought to love Him, and from doing the will of God as you ought to do it.

It is anything that comes between you and God and keeps you from living the Christian life to its fullest. If there is anything in your life about which you have a question, anything you are doing that you really do not feel at ease before God, then you ought to quit it. A pretty good rule of thumb is this: “When in doubt, don’t!” If it is questionable, then leave it off.

Jesus put it like this,

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money”

Matthew 6:24

Now here’s the key: If you are of Christ; If you have surrendered to Him as the Lord of your life; why are you still here? You can worship Him much better in Heaven. You can serve Him perfectly where He is. I’ll tell you why you are still here. Because there is one thing you can do here on earth that you cannot do in heaven and that is tell a lost person about a loving Saviour named Jesus. That’s why you are still here on planet earth.