We Are All Designed to Crave: Peter already reminded them in his first letter that we were born with a hard-wired desire for things. It is part of what 1 John 2 calls the lusts of the eyes and flesh. We long for things, and crave them like the Israelites craved in the wilderness. Craving for things displeases God who has asked us to crave after Him.
Look back at 1 Peter 1:13-17 (NKJV).
Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ; 14 as obedient children, not conforming yourselves to the former lusts, as in your ignorance; 15 but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 because it is written, āBe holy, for I am holy.ā 17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each oneās work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear;
Crave God not Things
We are to deny the urge for living just to satisfy our eyes and our pleasures. We are to think often about what God wants us to do. How He wants us to live. We must not find our joy in things, our satisfaction in things, our hope in things. That is materialism. If we have any questions, God’s Word makes it clear.
Peter says that the way we know we are headed the right way, following the right path is when we feel like aliens on earth, and strangers to the system. Look across the page at 1 Peter 2:11-12 (NKJV):
Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, 12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.
So what is the answer God prompts Peter to write?
Resisting Idols: Pleases God
So what is the answer God wants from us? Look back at 2 Peter 3:10-11. God said we keep our lives from suffering loss, from having the legacy of our life destroyed:
ā¢ By living for what lasts v. 10 or what do we have that won’t burn!
ā¢ By living for what pleases Him v. 11 so we won’t be ashamed when He shows up unexpectedly!
What exactly is Peter talking about that displeases God? Years after Peter, we find in 1 John that the last living Apostle uses the same word Peter was instructed to use. It does not please God for us to crave and sacrifice for what He is telling us to abandon. Look at 1 John 2:15-17:
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the worldā
ā¢ the lust of the flesh: (the craving of the body chasing pleasures);
ā¢ the lust of the eyes: (the lusting of the eyes chasing stuff)
ā¢ the pride of life: (the boasting of the mouth chasing status)
āis not of the Father but is of the world. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
Just like Lotās wife, when we long for what God has already said He is going to destroy, we displease Him. One of the last words to the church from the Apostles are Johnās words that end his epistle. He said to believers: keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21).
Should we spend our lives collecting and guarding, seeking out and holding onto trash that will only be taken away from us by God and burned (1 Cor. 3:13-15)? That is idolatry.
Or should we spend our lives laying up eternal treasures that will stay with us forever, and that we can give as endless offerings of worship to God (Mat. 6:19-21)? Which means we are back to asking:
What are some 21st Century Idols?