Keeping Up with the Joneses…
03/20/22.
In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus makes it crystal clear that His followers should look at sin differently compared to the world, or even the religious standards of that time. Using the example of lust, Jesus points out that sin is:
- An outward expression of a heart condition. (“You have already committed adultery in your heart…”)
- The subject’s responsibility to address, not the object. (“If YOUR right eye is causing YOU to sin…”)
Now, we probably shouldn’t take this figure of speech literally. I think we would be useless to God’s Kingdom if we removed a body part with every sin. With that said, if we want to have freedom from sin, and a stronger resistance against temptation, we need to address what feeds and conditions our heart’s desires.
Whether we believe it or not, our desires and expectations are often crafted and fed by our environments. Although it’s not our environments or influences that sin for us, they do have the ability to shape and inform our behavior if we let them.
If I grew up in a home where profanity and hateful speech was used as nouns, verbs, adjectives, prefixes, and suffixes, it wouldn’t be surprising if I adopted that habit without much resistance or even second thought. This of course is only one example. You could replace hateful speech with any number of things, and you would get the same result.
That’s where “keeping up with the Joneses” comes in. Whether it is the influences we were raised with, or the influences we surround ourselves with now, it is very easy for the outside influences that we are closest to (or wish we were) dictate our desires or expectations. When this happens, we let our idea of fulfillment, purpose, or legacy become dictated by the world’s standards instead of Jesus’ standard. This conditions our heart to be a perfect breeding ground for lust, envy, and an overall discontent that leads to sin instead of the fruit of the Spirit.
So, are our economic, relational, or experiential desires dictated by advertisements, fads, or those “perfect neighbors”? Or are they prayerfully and obediently surrendered to the Holy Spirit’s power with Jesus as our foundation?
If we want to remove the power that lust, envy, or any other sins have in our lives, we should earnestly pray as the Psalmist did: “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Psalm 139:23-24
Quote of the Week: “Love envies not. For kindness and envy are inconsistent. They can no more abide together than light and darkness.” John Wesley: Sermon 139 “On Love. 02.20.1736