The Blues
I enjoy some of Eric Clapton’s music, the Allman Brothers, Howlin’ Wolf, and B.B. King, but I cannot let myself “live the blues.” The blues is a genre of music that often expresses feelings of sadness, despair, and loneliness. While there is nothing wrong with enjoying blues music, it is important to remember that these are just feelings, not realities. As Christians, we should not allow our souls to be touched by these negative emotions. Instead, we should focus on the hope and joy that we have in Christ. B.B. King famously sang the line, “Even the air I breathe is used.” That’s blues. That’s worldliness. That’s not the mind of Christ!
We Must Not Be Cosmopolitan
Daily, during my prayer time, I confess my sins to God, asking His forgiveness[1] and praying for His strength so that I can genuinely repent[2]. The world we live in is insidious. It creeps into every nook and cranny that it can. Just as there are frogs in South America that, if touched, will kill a person[3], so it is with the things of this world. As the apostle John wrote, “Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions.[4]”
In John’s warning, the word he uses for the world is the Greek word κόσμον (kosmon), which is the root of our word cosmos. John is not writing about planets and constellations. Instead, John is writing about the world as a well-ordered whole. No part of the world is free from rebellion against God. Therefore, we must not touch the world.
He isn’t implying that we can’t hug a sinner or purchase food from worldly grocery stores. He is telling us that the world is a poisonous frog; we mustn’t allow our souls to touch the cosmos. We must not allow the darkness of the world to come into us. God is light[5], so our light must extinguish all darkness that attempts to come into us.
Good News
Jesus told us our Good News:
“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand. The Father and I are one.”” John 10:28–30 NLT
Image by Malachi Witt from Pixabay
You may like: This World
[1]: 1 John 1:9 NLT
[2]: 1 John 2:15–17
[3]: Poison Frog | San Diego Zoo Animals & Plants. https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/poison-frog Accessed 5/18/2023
[4]: 2 Corinthians 7:10
[5]: 1 John 2:15–16 NLT