Living on God
17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:17
What are some things you need to survive? Do you need food, water, and shelter? What are some other things you desire for a healthy life? Maybe you desire friends, family, a good education, a car to get around? Is it wrong to desire these things? As we talked about yesterday, it isn’t wrong—yet in our brokenness, sometimes humans attempt to satisfy these desires in ways that do not honor God. It is easy to forget that everything we have and need is from God, and so it is easy to stop depending on Him to help us with our every desire and need.
However, John talks about the world and its desires as passing away. This means that it is a process. As the Kingdom of God comes, the world and its desires are decreasing until they will completely be restored when Jesus redeems them.
Because the ways of the world and of God are opposite, John explains “whoever does the will of God abides forever.” We can again look to Jesus as our perfect example of this. Jesus did the will of God perfectly during His time on earth. He was fully dependent on God and His will! Once He even spent 40 days in a desert without food. He willingly died on a cross because it was God’s will. Although Jesus ate and drank and had natural physical needs and desires just like we do, He never let those get in the way of His dependence on God. And therefore He followed every single direction that God gave Him.
If we place our full dependency on God and seek Him as our one true nourishment, John explains that we will abide forever. Because God alone provides perfect satisfaction, a life being satisfied from God is eternal—it lasts forever and ever.
Questions for reflection and discussion
1. Do you have any desires that you don’t think God can satisfy? What is it?
2. How can you trust God the way Jesus did?
Dear God, thank You for providing everything for us, both our physical requirements and the means of salvation. Help us remember to honor you more than we love the good things you give us. Amen.
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