SHUN THESE EARTHLY PLEASURES

Earthly pleasures are irresistible but what they steal from us is greater than life itself, far greater than all the wealth in the world combined. “And as some spoke of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, Jesus said, “As for these things which you see, the days will come when there shall not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down. “Luke 21:5-6

Just like the disciples, we too are sometimes overwhelmed and carried away by the beauty of God‘s creations. Who wouldn’t be? The world and everything in it is wonderful; and so we merry, we explore the world and forget that we are not of this world.

The greed of man is so great and intense that we do not mind harming the other to gain riches. Just to make easy money, a man can pour powder into antibiotics capsules and sell them to sick people as antibiotics. Not caring that he would be indirectly killing innocent people. Another can defraud others of their money through dubious means. All for the sake of wealth.

What can money buy by the way; beautiful mansions, cars, fancy clothes, nice shoes, many friends, power, what else? You name it. Does it also buy you peace of mind, or does it eradicate depression or suicidal thoughts from your mind, does wealth make a person immortal, does it prevent you from running mad, does wealth give you friends and family who care about you and make you feel loved? NO.

Only Jesus can give you everything you need. Only Jesus gives you the assurance that you’ll be fine no matter what. No man can give you that assurance only Jesus can. This is why you should begin to accept him and learn to love him. Only Jesus can save you.

Jesus Christ, through his death and resurrection has planted his seed of life into our souls. This is the hope he has given to us. If we allow ourselves to be watered daily and nurtured through fervent prayers and meditation on the Holy Scriptures, we would grow into healthy trees and bring forth a bountiful harvest.

We cannot say that we have accepted him if we do not obey him, our love for him isn’t perfect if we put our earthly passions over his word. We are called to love God by being faithful to him. “Be faithful to me, even if it means death, and I will give you life as your prize of victory” Rev 2:10; this is God’s promise to us and it is priceless. So priceless that our life here on earth is thrash when compared to it. The life that God has promised us is something the human brain cannot comprehend. It is so great that the devil, knowing how precious this new life is, has sworn, and has made it his mission to steal it away from us.

Without knowing, we allow him win. Without understanding, we throw away God’s promise of eternal happiness and hold on to thrash like it is gold. God loves us and we are all called to love him in return. We are called to pay more attention to him and forsake all other earthly pleasures which take us away from him.

Many might have given up on heaven because they got tired of falling. They got ashamed of their sin and ran away from God. They got tired of the many sacrifices they have to make and decided that they are too weak and cannot make it. Heaven isn’t for the weak. It is for the strong hearted. It is for those who would sin, realize they have sinned, feel guilty, and go down on their knees begging God for forgiveness.

One of the reasons why heaven is for the humble at heart is because a humble man would sin a thousand times and each time, out of guilt, he would go down humbly on his knees and beg God for pardon. Whereas a proud man would sin a few times and stop admitting that he did anything wrong. Instead, he’ll either stop praying, or keep telling himself that God understands that we are human and are imperfect.

God’s love for us is so strong that he is always ready to accept us back as long as we are sorry. We should not let pride come in the way of his love for us. Paul described God’s love for us in the book of Romans when he wrote;

“Who, then, can separate us from the love of Christ? Can trouble do it, or hardship or persecution or hunger or poverty or danger or death? No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! For I am certain that nothing can separate us from his love: neither death nor life, neither angels nor other heavenly rulers or powers, neither the present nor the future, neither the world above nor the world below—there is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 35-39

So you see, nothing can make God stop loving us, not even our sins. So our assignment today is to love him back. Shower him with your love and glorify him. The first step to this is to think of Jesus always. This way, you would get to understand him and learn gradually to love him. He would fill you with his holy spirit and through his spirit, your love for him would eventually grow so strong. So strong that you would shun all the pleasure that the earth brings and delight only in the peace that Jesus gives.

May God bless us all and grant us his peace through Christ our Lord. Amen.