Youthful Vanity

This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture that reject fear and champion faith. It emphasizes the importance of focusing on the Lord and His values in every aspect of our lives. We are encouraged to remove sorrow and evil from our hearts and to live with an eternal perspective. The transcription also emphasizes the need to renew our minds with the Word of God and to actively listen and dialogue with the Holy Spirit. It reminds us of God's unfailing love for us and encourages us to declare and embrace our worth and value in His eyes. Welcome to Fear No Fear. Grace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Holy Spirit embrace you today. This is a series of devotions and meditations on scripture. We reject fear in any and all forms. Fear is a spiritual force, the currency of darkness and ignorance. It's what we inherited when Adam gave up his faith and Satan uses it to keep people down. His only weapon is words. If he can get you believing or looking at words of fear, he's got you. Instead, we champion faith as an allegiance to God, as a belief and trust and loyalty to the Lord God Almighty. We accept the evidence of his word as unvarnished truth, as is, just as it's written. We get close to his perfect love through the word, and perfect love casts out fear. 1 John 4.18 All scripture is taken from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Visit eBible.org Ecclesiastes 11.10 Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for youth and the dawn of life are vanity. Stereotypically speaking, youth consider themselves to be immortal. What that really means is that when we're young, we don't think about the end of things. We intellectually know that things die, and that we might die, but we're not exactly embracing that idea. The young don't live by the possible consequences of their actions. Everything is about beginnings. As we age, we gain a sense of caution, and the consequences of our actions take a larger place. We start to think about the end of things. Now, how often do we live like this spiritually? Not as the old, but as the young. How much thought do we really give to the idea of the ending? Okay, so we go to church. We worship the Lord. We're saved. We love the Lord. We read the word. And then we go on about our lives. I mean, day to day, hour by hour, how much thought are we giving to things of the Lord? Do we focus on it when chores need to be done? Do we focus on it when we're busy, and we have a bunch of errands to run? Do we focus on it when work is piling up? Or do we let living life get in the way of living eternally? It is the way of flesh to pay attention to what is in front of it, and ignore everything else. I mean, how often do we think about the lives, dreams, and struggles of those on the other side of the planet, or of the country? When they're on the news, when they trend on social media, we don't even think much about our neighbors, unless we see them. We are inherently selfish in our flesh and in our thinking. What is it that we are here for, really? Why do we do what we do? Is this what life is? Think about ourselves, go to work, buy groceries, cook food, clean the home, wash stuff, bathe, sleep, and do it all over again? In those moments that we have peace and calm, what is going through our minds? Usually something to do with us, our bodies, our minds, our home. Everything we do is meant to be focused on the Lord. Now, that's not dwelling on harps and clouds and singing, sing-y songs. It's filtering everything through the lens of the Lord Jesus. That's hard, because most of what we do has nothing whatsoever to do with eternity on the surface. I need to wash my vehicle, water the garden, get the kids going for the day, take a shower, get dressed, make a meal, and figure out what the plan is for the day. Show me in Scripture where I will find that. Where do I find the making a to-do list teaching? It, of course, isn't in there. Yet again and again we're warned not to let our lives take our eyes off the Lord. Proverbs 3, 21-23, for example. The Lord is about good things, righteous actions, holy thoughts. That's not holier-than-thou thoughts. That's thoughts that align with the Lord's thoughts. Not jealousy, encouragement. Not anger, patience. Not coveting, blessing without expectation of return. Not criticism, guidance. Practically, that can mean making a healthy meal, including things the people who will eat it like. Buying that fruit over this one because it's a family favorite. As simple as that. Thinking about our motivation. Thinking about others more than we are thinking about ourselves. It's hard. Today's verse gives us some advice about this. We're to remove sorrow from our hearts. This is more than just the idea of grief. It is that, but the Hebrew word is more than that. It signifies any disorder or disturbing emotion of the mind. Worry, anxiety, depression. Whatever disturbs us. It's also anger. Ours and also the anger of the Lord through us worshiping other gods. Taken all together, it's a warning not to put other things before the Lord. When we are focused on the Lord and on the fruits of His Spirit, we aren't disturbed. You cannot be anxious when you are focused on His peace. You cannot be depressed when you are actively loving the living Lord. You cannot be worried when you're placing all your cares on Him. You will not be angry that you are worshiping another if He is first place in your life. If we keep the word around our necks, it yokes us to the Lord in the best ways possible. When we have trouble is when we take our minds off the Lord. When we start thinking about this world, work or play, more than we are thinking about God. When we start to operate based on our feelings instead of basing them on what we know is right. It can be frustrating. We can go to watch something or read something that we enjoyed last time we did and suddenly it's hitting us the wrong way. Suddenly something about it gives us that squidgy in your spirit sensation. Do we whine and bemoan the fact that we can't have that thing? Do we focus on what our spirit is saying no to? Or do we realize that we're closer to the Lord than we were? Do we rejoice that we're walking in a better place than we were last time around? Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away. Behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5.17 We should expect change. We should expect an alteration of our habits and what we place before our eyes and ears. This is the focus of the second part of today's verse. Put away evil from your flesh. Evil here is more than just what is ethically bad. The Hebrew word means bad, disagreeable, malignant, unpleasant, displeasing, of low value, sad, unhappy, distress, adversity, wrong deed or action, injury, misery, sorrow, and even mischief. That covers a whole lot of ground. All of it is stuff that is not from the Lord. It is all the stuff that our flesh is all about. Because the flesh is made of the stuff of this world, and this world is fallen. This is the old creature, the old man, the previous us. When we are saved, our spirit is saved. Our spirit is born again. We are granted the holy, eternal, righteous spirit of Christ Jesus himself. But our flesh isn't. It isn't saved. It isn't restored. It doesn't change on its own. It's all the things that it was before. But our soul is the middle bit. It is our mind, heart, and emotions. Our soul is the driver of this vehicle. Our spirit should be the gas. But the flesh is the vehicle itself. This verse is all about us fueling our body with the Word, with the stuff of our spirit, our salvation, reality, and moving it in the direction of the Lord. We can renew it, Romans 12, 1-2. We can choose to put away the things that it likes and teach it to like new things. Just like we teach our children to do, enjoy, and embrace positive things, we can do the same to our flesh. Don't love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father's love isn't in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life isn't the Father's but is the world's. The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God's will remains forever. 1 John 2, 15-17 We are being called by today's verse not to lose sight of eternal things. We need to realize that it isn't just a little mistake. It isn't an innocent program that's entertaining. It isn't a blip in an otherwise good life. Each and every thing that we do needs to be motivated by the Lord and His values. We have to keep this in mind. It is vital. It is the battleground. This is where we are empowered to fight. For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world's rulers of the darkness of this age, and against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6, 12 It is the difference between saying, don't run in the house, fear-based, worry about injury, negative, and saying, please walk, positive, pleasant, thinking about the benefits. Jesus told the truth and didn't pull punches, but He never once was negative. He challenged the Pharisees to recognize what they were. He didn't call them names. He always spoke from the righteousness of the Lord, never from His own feelings. We need to put on the armor of God, Ephesians 6, 14-20, so that we are equipped in this fight. We need to be in the Word, reading it, looking at it, listening to it, thinking about it, trying to figure out what the Lord means by it, and praying for revelation from Him, so we understand, Ephesians 1, 17-23, and 3, 14-21. When we are armed and armored by the Lord, we can stand on the Word. We are equipped to choose life and not death, Deuteronomy 30, 15. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit to speak life to everyone around us all the time. Let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but only what is good for building others up, as the need may be, that it may give grace to those who hear, Ephesians 4, 29. One of the ways we can help ourselves to do just that is to take James 1, 19-20 to heart. Fear wants to keep us bound, bound to our old selves, bound to our selfish thinking, bound to what we were, dead, unrighteous, disobedient, unempowered. Faith wants to free us to obedience. Obedience is not restriction. Obedience is leaving behind the restriction. Obedience is opening ourselves to abundant life, John 10, 10. When we take time to make sure that what is coming out of our mouths are words of life, when we take time to make sure that what we are thinking on, reading, hearing, and viewing is based on the things of the Lord, when we use the 10 seconds before we speak rule to check in with the Holy Spirit about what we are about to say, this is how we can walk it out. This is how we can grab abundant life and live it. Jesus is giving it to us. He is showing us the way with how He lived, what He said, and what the Word expands on that. We are in this world, and it is easy to think that the internal part of our existence is way off, and we have plenty of time to work it out. That is that stereotypical youth view of life, youthful vanity. That is the foolish, I'll worry about it later attitude of the flesh. We need to put that attitude away from us. It is vanity. It is foolishness. We need to think eternally. We have been given Jesus' eternal righteous spirit. We are going to live forever. Everything we do has eternal echoes. In John 6, 63, Jesus said, It is the spirit who gives life. The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and life. We need to learn that. We need to think on the words of Jesus. We need to take in the Word. We need to let it renew our flesh into life. We need to grasp the spirit of self-control that the Lord gave us, 2 Timothy 1, 7, and use it. When we build into our hearts a foundation on the Word, then that is the well that we dip into for what we do in our day to day. We won't have to struggle to remember the Lord. The Lord will become part of everything we do. We will find it easy to submit to Him in those moments we have before we respond to everything that happens to us. When the Word is in our hearts, it will be what we go to in crisis. The more in our hearts that it is, the more automatic it becomes. It will be our reflex. But we need to put it in there. Day by day, every conscious moment we have, we need to get the Word in there. We use it up. We drink it as we go through the day, and so we need to refresh it. We need to make sure we are not blocking the spring of living water that is welling up within us, John 4, 14. If we don't, we will be informed by whatever we are feeling. But if we get our spirit into alignment with our soul, our body will fall into line and also obey. In Jesus, we have victory. Standing in Jesus by refusing to step away is how we bring it to life in our lives. In Jesus, we have an attitude of life and love. In Jesus, we put away anger and reject the evil inclination of this world. In Jesus, we can say what the Father wants us to say. In Jesus, we can do what the Father shows us to do. In Jesus, we can live, move, and have our being be all that He is sanctifying us to be. Every day, every moment, more of Jesus and less of us. Focus on who you are in Jesus. Focus on what the Lord of God says about you and about your circumstances. Don't go by your feelings, by what you see, hear, or experience in a moment. Again and again, look to Jesus. Who you are in Him. What He says about what is happening. What He says about what we should emote. Trust Him. Abide in Him. And use the Word to constantly renew yourself in Him. This is abundant life. This is refusing to fear. This is removing sorrow and putting evil away from our flesh. This is faith. Belief by grace. Obedience by grace. The perfect gift of our loving, living, correcting Savior. A spirit of power, love, and self-control. Believe it. Receive it. And walk in it. Our affirmation of God's love is John 7, 37-38. Back in Genesis 26-19, the servants of Isaac dug a well and found a well of flowing water. The word for flowing was the same word Jesus used in John. It was water flowing fresh from a running stream or perennial spring. Its motion and freshness resembled life as opposed to stagnant water or muddy water. The Hebrew word refers to alive or living. Flowing and fresh. It is ever-renewing, moving, and refreshing. This is the spirit that we are given. 2 Timothy 1-7. We have His power inside us and that Holy Spirit is ever-moving. Genesis 1-2. We have His love, which is outward thinking and motivated by empowering those around us to prosper and develop into better people. John 13-34-35. We have been authorized to utilize our self-control and choose life over death, the Lord over the world, the Word over our own reasonings. Philippians 4-13. Our battleground is not out in the world. Jesus has overcome the world. John 16-33. And we are in Him. John 15-4. So the world is nothing to us. Our battleground is in our mind. Ephesians 6-12. It is where we need to bring the things of our spirit to our flesh. It is where we need to stand on the promises and eager expectation we have in Jesus. It is where we need to actively listen or hear the Word of God. The Hebrew word that is used in the Old Testament when it says, Obey my commandments, also means hear. We are to hear His commandments. That is more than listening. It is active listening, mulling it over, trying to determine the motivation and meaning behind it. And reiterating it to show that you have heard and comprehend what has been said. It is interactive, two-way listening. This is what gives us the freshness of living water within us. The constant dialogue of the Holy Spirit bringing the words of the Father through our spirit to our ears, which we hear, meditate on, seek to understand and discuss with Him. This is the renewing, sanctifying journey we are on as we go from what we were to what we can be in Him. More than can be, what we will be in Him as He becomes our all in all. It isn't automatic. It is ongoing, conscious and done with intent. Listen, truly listen and dialogue with Him today. It will renew you and change your life. As we close, remember that you have birth. You are precious and valuable. Declare this. Today, God loves that I, now you, fill in the blank. Was it a meal you made? A smile you gave? Did you get out of bed? Read? Put on socks? There's no wrong answers here. There is no end to God's love There is no end to the things about you that He loves each and every day. Pick one. And remember, the Lord loves you just because you're you. 1 John 4 9-10 tells us By this, God's love was revealed in us that God has sent His only born Son into the world that we might live through Him. And this is love. Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. His perfect love turned away God's wrath because of sin. And it casts out our fear too. See verses 18 and 19. We love because He first loved us. He just loves us. Can't get enough of us. And that is wonderful. See you next time.