How Should We Relate to the Things of Earth?
BY EMBRACING GOD’S GOOD GIFTS
The church is God's home. The place where he dwells with his people. Those who delight in, declare, and defend the goodness of life with him in a world full of competing claims. In this way, the church serves as a pillar and buttress of the truth. Holding it up for all to see and resisting the external forces that press up against it. But is resisting the pressures of the world the only way the church relates to the world? What about the many pleasures of the world? 1 Timothy 4:1-5 comes to us to say that while our life together is certainly marked by resisting bad beliefs, it's also meant to be about receiving God’s good gifts. Relieving us from the uneccessary tension between loving God and enjoying life. Because, the joy that’s found in Jesus is a joy that includes and is even intensified by glorifying God through enjoying what he’s made.