DAILY DEVOTIONAL – February 25, 2020
“YUCK!”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, You have brought us out of darkness and into Your marvelous light through Your death and resurrection. By Your power and Spirit, help us to live as children of light. Amen.
Scripture: 1 John 2:15-17
15 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. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
Devotional – “Yuck!”
My daughter Elizabeth loves to listen to music. Many of her first words and complete sentences came from what she had heard and learned in songs. I remember one song in particular that seemed to be playing constantly, and it was one of those tunes that once it gets stuck in your head, it haunts you all day long. As much as seeing her skip around the house singing her music makes me happy, ‘round about the 6th or 7th repetition I start to get a little shaky.
One song that seemed to be particularly contagious was a song called “Do You Like Lasagna Milkshakes?” Some of the lyrics to the song go like this:
Do you like lasagna? Yes I do.
Do you like milkshakes? Yes I do.
Do you like lasagna milkshakes? No I don’t! Yucky!
Do you like avocados? Yes I do.
Do you like lollipops? Yes I do.
Do you like avocado lollipops? No I don’t! Yucky!
Do you like peanut butter? Yes I do.
Do you like jelly? Yes I do.
Do you like peanut butter and jelly? Yes I do! Yummy!
The obvious premise and lesson behind such a silly song is to teach children that some things go well together, and some things don’t. While you may like certain things by themselves, if you try and combine them or mix them with other things, even other things you may also like, the result may prove less than desirable. Simply put, some things just don’t mix well.
As I think most parents can attest to, raising children is an education in what it means to live as children of God ourselves, and one that could rival even the most prestigious of seminaries. There aren’t many days that go by for me as a father when Jesus’ words in Luke 18:17 don’t enter my mind, “Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.”
What can be said of lasagna milkshakes can also be said of many things in this life, especially for those who profess to be Christian and desire to live faithfully before God. There are certain things that just don’t mix with being a Christian. We cannot love the sinful things of this world and love Jesus at the same time. As Jesus says in Matthew 6:24, “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”
After Adam and Eve rebelled against God and brought sin into the world, they were cast out of God’s presence and out of the Garden of Eden because sin and God do not mix; not even a little bit. If not for God’s love and mercy, separation from God would have been mankind’s eternal destiny. Instead, God sent His Son Jesus into the mixed up mess of our sinful world so that He would restore us back to God by paying for our sin and by making us a new creation in Christ by grace through faith in His death and resurrection.
As those who have been made new in the grace and forgiveness of God, we do not mix well with this world. If we have been washed clean and born again in the waters of baptism, then this world is like oil. The two don’t mix, and when we give into temptation or persist in a lifestyle that is incongruent with God’s Word and the life He has given us in Christ, everything gets ruined and tastes like a lasagna milkshake.
Some drinks can be mixed, just as some interests can compliment one another. But some mixtures are so contradictory that to mix them is to create something that’s noxious. The interests of the world and the interests of God can’t be mixed. Scripture puts it this way in Galatians 5:17, “The desires of the flesh are contrary to the desires of the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are contrary to the desires of the flesh. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”
In our text today, the Apostle John also speaks very directly about how a love for the world and a love for God don’t mix on any level. “15 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. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” As people who love Jesus and desire to follow Him, we cannot also love our sin or any part of this sinful world. When we dabble in both, we only create our own misery.
Before God so mercifully revealed Himself to us, all we knew was the misery of worshipping ourselves and our sin. We were slaves to sin and death and knew not the joy of a relationship with our Maker and Creator. Now, however, God has set us free in the blood of Christ. We are free to serve Him, free to obey and free to worship Him and free to say no to anything and everything that would compromise the joy God wants to give us as we faithfully serve in obedience to His Word, faithfully serve Him and His people in the Church, and faithfully serve our neighbor.
This is the high calling we have been given from God. Ephesians 4 says, “Assuming that you have heard about him [Jesus] and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, 22 put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires,23 and be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”
Thanks for spending time with me today in the Word of God, and remember that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today and has already taken care of tomorrow. Amen.
