The World Is Crucified Unto Me - Bible Witness Media Ministry

Christian and WorldlinessVanity of theMaterial WorldThe sacred pages of the Bible open withthese words, “In the beginning God createdthe heaven and the earth.” Midway throughthe sacred Book, it is written, “Except theLORD build the house, they labour in vainthat build it: except the LORD keep the city,the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain foryou to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat thebread of sorrows: for so he giveth his belovedsleep” (Psalm 127:1-2).Lee Kim ShongCreator. It is worshipping the created ratherthan the Creator Himself. It is a very commonform of idolatry and the most popular religionthat even the professed “atheist” practises it.Let’s look at what the Lord of the universesays in Psalm 127:1-2. It is useless to invest ourwaking hours in the pursuit of material thingsrather than God. What we get in the end isonly headache, heartache and restlessness.Material things are good gifts from God.Silver and gold are made byGod. There are proper usesof them. God wants us tomanage these things well asHis stewards. God made thewhole earth and put us tomanage it. We should neverallow material things tomanage us. Material thingsmay be good servants butthey are terrible masters.We should use them toserve the Lord by givingto His cause and helpingour fellow men. Otherwisewe are wasting our liveson earth chasing after thewind.From childhood to old age,we are very much influencedby materialism. What ismaterialism? Materialismis nothing short of puttingmaterial things above theKing Solomon, the son of David, was endowedwith great wisdom and greatwealth by God. He began hisadministration with a Godfearingattitude. He soughtafter God’s will. He thirstedfor wisdom. But as the dayswent by, he was very muchinfluenced by materialism.He trusted in the powerof horses. He married thedaughter of Pharaoh plusmany other princesses fromthe surrounding nations. Asa result, his heart was notperfect before the Lord,unlike his father. Gradually,he was influenced toworship other gods by hisnon-believing wives. At theend of his life, he lamentedthe vanity of materialism.In the book of Ecclesiastes,he gave many warnings topeople who put materialthings above God.Bible Witness 15