Intentional Rejection

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world--the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 
1 John 2:15-17

As our pastor spoke on this verse in his sermon on Sunday, I felt even greater confirmation that we are on the right track as a family. While we are journeying into an unknown, we are comforted in knowing that we are following His will and not the world's will. It is not easy being up against the world and its, as our pastor put it, "values, pleasures, aspirations, false philosophies, and false systems that are opposed to God."

What good will it be for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul? Or what can anyone give in exchange for their soul?
Matthew 16:26

When we allow the temptations and desires ("values, pleasures, aspirations, false philosophies, and false systems that are opposed to God") of the world into our homes, we are in constant battle. Our home is clearly our greatest mission field.

I love how young blogger, Bria Crawford, puts it in a recent blog post. She is so wise beyond her age--what a gift!

I have the biggest opportunity to serve every day right in my home. My family is in a season of many little ones right now, and this is the time that I am needed most. These are the days I am daily called to die to self. And I’ll admit it is hard sometimes. Rejecting fleshly nature does not come without great sacrifice, prayer, and discipline.

My home is no less a mission field than an orphanage in Africa.

The temptations of the world surround us; they are part of our every day life and in our very own mission field. In fact, the world has conditioned us to accept and even justify them; we have become more and more desensitized. But we must, as Christians, intentionally reject the world and its desires on a daily basis.

Just as the serpent craftily convinced Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in Genesis 3:1-5, the world is constantly seducing us to eat the "fruit" of the world.

    Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?" 
    The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.'"
    "You will not certainly die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

How are you intentionally rejecting the world?