Passing Away

I had an interesting conversation with a few of you at our bowling outing on Monday. The conversation was about “the eighties,” and how dumb some of the styles and music and things that people did back then were. I agreed, but I wondered how you all knew so much since most of you were barely born in the eighties!
Perhaps you’ve noticed as you look at old pictures of your parents how crazy they looked back then. Maybe you harassed your dad for wearing such awful looking clothes or your mom for having such dorky glasses. What may or may not have dawned on you is that they didn’t think they were awful or dorky back then: they thought they were cool (or “groovy” or “rad” or whatever the word was back then)!
Building on that idea, realize this: someday your children will look at pictures of you now and say, “How could you wear such weird clothes?” or “Why did you cut your hair like that?” We have to face the fact: someday, what we think is cool will be very not cool.
All of this illustrates perfectly 1 John 2:17, which says, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” The “world,” or the system of values that unsaved men hold in opposition to God, will pass away. You may work very hard to look cool, dress in style, or wear your hair just so, but all of that will soon be gone. In twenty or ten (or maybe even five!) years, that will be out of style and have “passed away.”
The only way to do something that really makes a difference is to obey God. The verse says that the one who does God’s will lives forever. All our efforts at trying to mimic the world and walk in step with its desires (lusts) are a waste of time. It is all passing away. I urge you: put your time and efforts into doing something that will last. Make it your goal to obey God.