Don’t Settle down in the World
by Dr. Paul Chappell
“For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”
Hebrews 13:11–14
When God called Abraham to leave Ur, he spent the rest of his life as a nomad, living in tents and moving from place to place. Abraham did eventually reach the Promised Land after many years had passed, but he himself did not live to see the full scope of what God had promised. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).
As children of God we are not meant to be too comfortable in this world. As the old song put it, we are, “Only passing through.” The danger of being settled in the world is illustrated for us in the life of Lot. When he split from his righteous uncle Abraham and went his own way, he placed his tent so that it looked toward Sodom—and it wasn’t long before he was living there. Lot lost his family, and his character and reputation were destroyed because he became comfortable enough with sin to settle where it was the worst.
We are not meant to withdraw from the world into monasteries. Sin cannot be overcome by geographical isolation, because we carry it with us in our old nature. But we are not to fall in love with the world or the things of the world. Instead, we are to love the eternal things of God.
Hebrews 13:11–14
When God called Abraham to leave Ur, he spent the rest of his life as a nomad, living in tents and moving from place to place. Abraham did eventually reach the Promised Land after many years had passed, but he himself did not live to see the full scope of what God had promised. “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13).
As children of God we are not meant to be too comfortable in this world. As the old song put it, we are, “Only passing through.” The danger of being settled in the world is illustrated for us in the life of Lot. When he split from his righteous uncle Abraham and went his own way, he placed his tent so that it looked toward Sodom—and it wasn’t long before he was living there. Lot lost his family, and his character and reputation were destroyed because he became comfortable enough with sin to settle where it was the worst.
We are not meant to withdraw from the world into monasteries. Sin cannot be overcome by geographical isolation, because we carry it with us in our old nature. But we are not to fall in love with the world or the things of the world. Instead, we are to love the eternal things of God.
Today’s Growth Principle:
We must never lose sight of the eternity that awaits us in Heaven, where God’s full promises will be realized.
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