“Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but not do what I command?” Luke 6:46  “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction and those who enter through it are many. How narrow the gate and constricted the road that leads to life. And those who find it are few.” Mat 7:13-14 “Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world.”1 John 2:15-17 “Do you not know that to be a lover of the world means enmity with God? Therefore, whoever wants to be a lover of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” James 4:4 “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:2  “Beloved, I urge you as aliens and sojourners to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against the soul.”1 Peter 2: 11

I’ve spent the last two months reading and thinking about the verses above talking about not loving or being conformed to this world or the things in it. These verses are some of those things that we like to forget we ever saw or we decide they don’t apply to us, or they don’t really mean what they say, or we don’t need to be concerned about them because we’re so good just like we are. And yet, here is Jesus saying these things, and not so much suggesting them, but demanding that we do them.

I can’t really remember now how I ended up on this subject of spiritual detachment, but it seems like every time I get thinking that God is probably pretty happy with me, something like this happens—something demanding more of me. This one has been the hardest one so far, because after taking a long look at myself, I have to wonder that maybe I do love this world and all the stuff that comes with it. Look at all the things we have that we certainly don’t need. Look at our giant televisions on which we watch shows that contain all kinds of stuff we believe is wrong and sinful—things we won’t let our children and grandchildren watch. Look at the time we spend on the internet and things like twitter and Facebook, not to mention texting and emails and surfing the web in general. Then there are things like golf, fine dining, travel and in general, just enjoying what we like to call Life.

Which world are we living in?

Gods world or the one these verses are talking about?

What are these verses supposed to mean to us? To me, God is saying two things. First, we have to be careful not to get attached to material things. Because when we do, it becomes so easy to convince ourselves that we need these things to be contented and happy. And to be happier and more contented, we need even more things. And even when we find these things don’t satisfy, we continue to strive for them. The problem seems to be that most of us don’t want to see ourselves as we really are.

Blessed are the poor, because they have not developed attachments to these worldly things.

But I think the really big thing God is saying in these verses is that we can’t have both. We can’t have Him and the World. We have to choose. And isn’t that what most of us do—try to have both? We have our God places, times and friends, and we have our non-God places, times and friends. And which of these two worlds do we spend by far the most time, energy and money in?

God is saying to me in these verses that we can’t have it both ways, we can’t love this world and Him and His world at the same time—it just won’t work. If we want God, we must first detach ourselves from this world and the things here that are binding us, distracting us and pulling us in the wrong direction, because anything that is not directing us toward God is moving us away. And then we have to spend that time and energy devoting ourselves to the things that get us closer and closer to God.

A problem I struggle with is that I subconsciously compare my spiritual development to the wrong group of people—people like me—people who have travelled such a short distance on the spiritual journey. When I do that, it’s pretty easy to feel good about myself and how far I’ve gone. In reality, I/we should compare ourselves to a different group. That group we call the Saints—people who really know God and can tell us how we can too. People who when we compare ourselves to them, give us an accurate glimpse of how far we have come and how far there is yet to go.

If we want to experience what the saints had in this world no matter if you call it “Fullness of Life” or “the Fulfillment of all Desire” or “Spiritual Union with Christ” we have to learn to let go and empty ourselves of this world and all its stuff. We have to be emptied before God can fill us.

Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life?