Wordly Desires

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AnnaBanana

AnnaBanana

Puritan Board Freshman
I believe I might be over thinking this, so I'd like to know your opinion.

1 Peter 2:11 Dear friends, I warn you as "temporary residents and foreigners" to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls.

In my understanding, worldy desires equate to wealth, possessions (material goods), property, and pleasures for the body.

This morning, I was actually questioning based off this verse, how seriously I am taking the Word of God. Is it wrong to live in a house? Is it wrong to have to have a cell phone? Is it wrong to have more than five outfits in my closet and more than six pairs of shoes? Is it wrong to have a car that isn't necessarily considered the greatest but still, I rely on it a lot to get me places? Is it wrong to sometimes want to go shopping for something to decorate my house with? Is it wrong to work to get paid?

Are all these things waging war against my soul? And if they are, how do I keep away from them? Especially the life necessities such as food, shelter and clothing? Or, is it only considered a worldy desire if you are longing to have these things and can barely imagine your life without them?

I desire to live my life according to the Lord, but I am confused with this verse (I've read the whole chapter, just that part stood out).

Can someone help me out?
 
I think the key word is "desires". Desire is defined as a "strong feeling of wanting to have something or wishing for something to happen". So are your desires more like coveting? The other key word is worldly. I would interpret this to be things that are contrary to God. So to fit it all together you can have a want for a specific house that is close to work and church and is within your budget and there's nothing wrong with that. You could desire a house to where that's all you want and nothing will stop you from getting it even if it means moving away from a good church and it's not within your budget. Also, you could want a husband that isn't a Christian and that of course would be contrary to God's command. The love of money is what is evil not money itself. What or who is your god is basically what you have to ask yourself. Is there something pulling you away from God and the things of him.
 
Those things are not *necessarily* enemies of your soul, but it is important to recognize that they are *potential* enemies of your soul. A reactionary asceticism would miss the point. The command is to be watchful.
 
God created all things good, we just have to be careful how we use them, and how attached we are to them. But there is nothing inherently wrong with such blessings.
 
Anna, such a good question! I contemplate it a lot.

As in so many other places, there is a tension and a need for balance.

First, fleshly desires, in themselves, are not bad. Otherwise, God would not commend them in places like Deuteronomy 12 (see verses 15-21 and repetition of "whatsoever thy soul lusteth after"--KJV version) and Ecclesiastes 5:18:
"Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion."

The key in having these desires is that they are "before the Lord" and acknowledge what "God giveth." In other words, it is fine to enjoy blessings given by God, and important to remember that they are blessings. Our enjoyment of them comes from acknowledging and resting "before the Lord."

Yet, we are also taught from what Peter said in the passage you cited, and elsewhere, like Galatians 5:17--"For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would," that fleshly desires can take us away from God and we need to be watchful about that.

Maybe the real issue is not having and desiring things, but rather the two competing mindsets:

1. How can I get stuff that pleases ME?
vs.
2. How can I thank God for his blessings?

One is the mind of the world, and the other is the mind of those in his presence.
 
Victor, those are such great questions to ask yourself.

A lot of the time, I feel overly blessed with what the Lord has given to me. I don't own that much but still, it more than I could ever ask for.
 
AnnaBanana said:
Is it wrong to live in a house? Is it wrong to have to have a cell phone? Is it wrong to have more than five outfits in my closet and more than six pairs of shoes? Is it wrong to have a car that isn't necessarily considered the greatest but still, I rely on it a lot to get me places? Is it wrong to sometimes want to go shopping for something to decorate my house with? Is it wrong to work to get paid?
Click to expand...

These things could be wrong if they become your true love, your idols. That is a danger, for sure. But God has placed you in America, and it is okay for you to live economically as an American, with the usual American trappings—provided that consistent with godliness you love generosity more than you love accumulating worldly stuff.

For many believers in a wealthy place like America, I think this involves having the usual American goods but living somewhat below our means so we can be generous and maintain a mindset that our treasure is in heaven. How much below our means will differ from individual to individual, and often changes with the seasons of life.
 
As some of the others have alluded to, I think perspective is helpful in this. A person in third-world poverty who lusts after his neighbor's possessions is just as desiring of worldliness as is the first-world kid wanting a new iphone to satisfy his pride. Whether you have one shirt and are dissatisfied with God's graces, or whether you have 100 shirts and are dissatisfied with God's graces-- both are equally at fault; both desire what they perceive will bring them fulfillment in some means. Worldly desires are rampant and manifold and do not manifest the same way in all times and places (though they often will take familiar forms)--but they are as surely there as they were from the Fall of our first parents. Dissatisfaction, pride, arrogance, etc--all ways in which we lack conformity to the law of God and are lead to the pursuit of worldly desires to satisfy our ends (whether the extravagance is the same as another's does not alter the heinousness--both are sin).
 
"It is hard to carry a full cup without a spill. You have need to pray to God, not only to help you in your troubles — but to help you in your blessings."
Charles Spurgeon

"As the sun gazed upon makes everything else look dark and dim — so does the cross darken the false splendor of this world. As the taste of honey makes all other things seem to have no taste at all — so does the cross seen by faith, take all the sweetness out of the pleasures of the world." J.C. Ryle
 
Remember also that God has given us all things freely to enjoy--not to trust in, since He can take them away in a heartbeat, but to enjoy as they come from His hand; and Paul tells the Corinthians that all things are theirs: Paul, Apollos, Cephas; the world, life, death, things present and future, and in the midst of all that, we belong to Christ.
So enjoy those things that you have as gifts of God, and work for the things you need and that help you to live comfortably and well, and know that all those things come from a loving heavenly father who put you in the place where you are, and gave you the things you have and will have, because it is what's best for you and redounds the most to His glory.
 
I have thought about this a lot lately since one of my classes I refer to as a communist training camp (because it is). The politics of envy are at play; equality of outcome are sincerely hungered after. It is that mentality to watch for.
Here is a good article
https://mises.org/wire/buffoons-oxfam-believe-its-better-be-poor-afghanistan-singapore
Be thankful always and be content unlike these SJWs.
We live in inarguably the best society that as so far ever existed in terms of wealth. Once that is lost site of that in trying to keep up with the Joneses then it you are envious.
 
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