DAD'S RAMBLINGS -- PILGRIM'S PROGRESS -- LOVE OF THINGS

PILGRIM'S PROGRESS – LOVE OF THINGS

"Do not love the things of the world or the things in the world….The world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever" (I John 2:15a, 17).

"And He (Jesus) said to them, 'Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses" (Luke 12:15)

"Now I saw in my dream that Christian and Hopeful forsook him and kept a good distance ahead of him. After a while Christian looked back and saw three men following Mr. By-ends. And as they came up to him, he greeted them with a low bow and they gave him a compliment. The men's names were Mr. Hold-the-world, Mr. Money-love, and Mr. Save-all. They were school fellows and were taught by one Mr. Gripe-man. They had gone to school in Love-gain, which is a market town in the county of Coveting to the north."

These people are those who have set their affections on the things of this world. In their school, they were taught the art of getting, either by violence, fraud, flattery, lying, or putting on a guise of religion, and they had all become proficient in their careers, so much so that they each started their own school.

There is always the temptation for the Pilgrim to become enamored by the things of this world. Covetousness will sidetrack the Pilgrim and slow down his journey. Even ministers can fall into this trap, as Bunyan tells it. Ministers can be sidetracked by the lure of a larger congregation with a larger salary, or the prestige that comes by being a "successful" preacher. The covetous person can justify his actions by quoting Scripture (God wants us to be blessed and prosperous and have greater opportunity to share the Gospel), but the motive is what God looks at.

God says, "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows" (I Timothy 6:10). It is not money, but the love of money, that is the root of all kinds of evil, and it will cause one to get off the straight path, and also bring much grief, pain, and sorrow.

O, Lord God, help me to keep my eyes on Jesus and His cross, and things that really matter.

Love, Dad