MORE, MORE, AND MORE..
I woke up this morning and was very surprised to hear a voice say these words to me, “The more you want from this world, the narrower and the harder it is to pass the narrow road to heaven.”
I have never heard or read these warnings before from anyone, not from my mother, not from my preachers, not from the Bible teacher, and not even from the Biblical scholars on the Internet.
What does my “want" have to do with qualifying myself for the Kingdom of God, I ask? Am I missing something?
And so, I decided to search the Scripture and see what Jesus had said about our wants.
First, I look at the Ten Commandments. There are not too many wants that I see there except in Exodus 20:17, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that [is] your neighbor's." When we do this, we are wanting something that is not ours. When I want my neighbor’s wife or husband, that is a sin. When I want my neighbor's dog, that is a sin. In short, we cannot want anything that belongs to others.
For example, we have been following our church pastor for decades. We enjoyed the messages that we heard from him. One day we heard that he is retiring. I was surprised to hear that he is retiring so early at 55 years of age. A couple of weeks later I found out that he had eloped with a female pastor about half his age from another church. Apparently he had one too many wants that he should not have wanted.
Brothers and sisters, we should be careful with our wants. Why? Because in the process of getting our wants we may violate God’s laws, commit sin, and lose eternal life. Remember Adam and Eve? Remember Lucifer? They lost eternal life because they have too many wants. I don’t know what consequences we or our children will have to bear as a result of the mistake that we make. Jesus said in John 4:37, "For in this the saying is true: `One sows and another reaps.'” Often the one who sows is the one who reaps. And this is true too. We, our children, or our grandchildren may reap what we sow today. Our descendants may rejoice together in what we have sown today, or they may be sorry for the rest of their lives because of what we did today. That’s what generational curse is all about.
Be careful about our wants and what we do to get them. No one can escape the law which says that we will reap what we sow, no one! Be careful with our wants, and how we get them, because they can prevent us from living with our Father in heaven. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Adam and Eve lost eternal life because they wanted more and more. Lucifer and His angels also lost eternal life because they wanted more and
more. Remember always to ask God if what we want is His will. Let Your will be done in our lives, Lord.
I have never heard or read these warnings before from anyone, not from my mother, not from my preachers, not from the Bible teacher, and not even from the Biblical scholars on the Internet.
What does my “want" have to do with qualifying myself for the Kingdom of God, I ask? Am I missing something?
And so, I decided to search the Scripture and see what Jesus had said about our wants.
First, I look at the Ten Commandments. There are not too many wants that I see there except in Exodus 20:17, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that [is] your neighbor's." When we do this, we are wanting something that is not ours. When I want my neighbor’s wife or husband, that is a sin. When I want my neighbor's dog, that is a sin. In short, we cannot want anything that belongs to others.
For example, we have been following our church pastor for decades. We enjoyed the messages that we heard from him. One day we heard that he is retiring. I was surprised to hear that he is retiring so early at 55 years of age. A couple of weeks later I found out that he had eloped with a female pastor about half his age from another church. Apparently he had one too many wants that he should not have wanted.
Brothers and sisters, we should be careful with our wants. Why? Because in the process of getting our wants we may violate God’s laws, commit sin, and lose eternal life. Remember Adam and Eve? Remember Lucifer? They lost eternal life because they have too many wants. I don’t know what consequences we or our children will have to bear as a result of the mistake that we make. Jesus said in John 4:37, "For in this the saying is true: `One sows and another reaps.'” Often the one who sows is the one who reaps. And this is true too. We, our children, or our grandchildren may reap what we sow today. Our descendants may rejoice together in what we have sown today, or they may be sorry for the rest of their lives because of what we did today. That’s what generational curse is all about.
Be careful about our wants and what we do to get them. No one can escape the law which says that we will reap what we sow, no one! Be careful with our wants, and how we get them, because they can prevent us from living with our Father in heaven. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21-23, "Not everyone who says to Me, `Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, `Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And then I will declare to them, `I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'” Adam and Eve lost eternal life because they wanted more and more. Lucifer and His angels also lost eternal life because they wanted more and
more. Remember always to ask God if what we want is His will. Let Your will be done in our lives, Lord.
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