Day 1 - God is Eternal; Lust is Temporary
How can we give ourselves to what the devil and Adam created (Rom 5:12), to what is temporary and fleeting, the lust that is headed to hell?
Genesis 1:1 – In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (ESV)
God has no beginning, but everything else does. God has always been and always will be. As Moses prayed, “from everlasting to everlasting you are God” (Ps 90:2c). God has no end.
Deuteronomy 6:4 - “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.”
God is only one Nature. He has no parts. Therefore, He is not the sum of His parts. All that God is, He is 100%. He is 100% God always and forever, never changing.
Psalm 102:25-27 -
25 Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. 26 They will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, 27 but you are the same, and your years have no end.
God exists in and of Himself from eternity past. He is self-existing and has no needs. All creation has a beginning and will have an end, but God is everlasting.
Application
When you lust, you sin against the only One in all creation who has no needs. The God who had no need for creating, freely chose to create all things, except sin, which the devil and man created by misusing God’s creation (Gen 3:1-6).
God calls us to worship Him with our entire lives. We need Him. He does not need us. Thus, our lives and our breath, and worship of Him, are privileges. The privilege is all ours.
Receiving and knowing God through Christ, and knowing these privileges that He has given us, how can we give ourselves to that which is contrary to Him? How can we give ourselves to what the devil and Adam created (Rom 5:12), to what is temporary and fleeting, the lust that is headed to hell, when God who has called us is eternal, unending, and calling us to Heaven?
He is worthy of our love and devotion. Lust is not.
Marching Orders: Thinking God’s Thoughts After Him
Receive, Believe, and live the truths you’ve read. Memorize and meditate on these truths today:
Memorize and Meditate on One Sentence to Shape Your Affections:
God is eternal, has no beginning, no end, no parts, no needs, and He exists in and of Himself from eternity past, now, and forever.
Memorize and Meditate on a Short Poem to Shape Your Affections:
God eternal, no start, no end,
No parts, no needs, we all on Him depend.
Past, now and forever, He simply is,
In Him, eternal bliss, our salvation begins.
Listen to This Song Often to Shape Your Affections:
Add this song to your playlist, “Eternal God, Whose Power Upholds”
By Henry Hallam Tweedy (1929)
On YouTube,
By Melissa Oretade (4.5 verses)
1 Eternal God, whose power upholds
Both flower and flaming star,
To whom there is no here nor there,
No time, no near nor far,
No alien race, no foreign shore,
No child unsought, unknown:
O send us forth, Thy prophets true,
To make all lands Thine own!
2 O God of love, whose Spirit wakes
In every human breast,
Whom love, and love alone, can know,
In whom all hearts find rest:
Help us to spread Thy gracious reign
Till greed and hate shall cease,
And kindness dwell in human hearts,
And all the earth find peace!
3 O God of truth, whom science seeks
And reverent souls adore,
Who lightest every earnest mind
Of every clime and shore:
Dispel the gloom of error’s night,
Of ignorance and fear,
Until true wisdom from above
Shall make life’s pathway clear!
4 O God of beauty, oft revealed
In dreams of human art,
In speech that flows to melody,
In holiness of heart:
Teach us to turn from sinfulness
That shuts our hearts to Thee,
Till all shall know the loveliness
Of lives made fair and free!
5 O God of righteousness and grace,
Seen in the Christ, Thy Son,
Whose life and death reveal Thy face,
By whom Thy will was done:
Inspire Thy heralds of good news
To live Thy life divine,
Till Christ has formed in all mankind
And every land is Thine![1]