Wednesday: Living in This World but Not of It
Daily Lesson for Wednesday 25th of March 2026
Read Colossians 4:14-15 and 2 Timothy 4:10-11. How is Luke distinguished from Demas, and why?
The apostle John tells us, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15). Luke’s love for Jesus and His kingdom led him to stand by Paul to the end, come what may, whereas Demas loved this world more than the world to come.
Read the following passages. What counsel is given for those awaiting the Second Advent?
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Mark 13:32-37
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Titus 2:11-14
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2 Peter 3:10-14
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Revelation 3:17-21
Image © Darrel Tank from GoodSalt.com
Jesus and the apostles frequently warn us to “watch,” be vigilant, and be ready always for the Master’s coming so as not to be taken by surprise. Unfortunately, as did the disciples who failed to heed Jesus’ command to “watch and pray” (Mark 14:38, NKJV), many will not make the necessary preparations. It all comes down to who or what has our hearts, because we cannot serve two masters.
In the message to Laodicea, Jesus gives us a clear prescription. First, repent of our sins. Second, we are to open our hearts to Jesus and let Him be in control, which then (third) enables us to obtain the “gold” of faith and love tested by trial and victorious over temptation.
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What specifics might Jesus be asking you to repent of in your life? What part of His prescription are you in need of most? |
Yesterday I got my new U-beaut hearing aids. In Australia you can get financial help from both the government and health insurance services every 5 years. So, on March 14 the time was up and my audiologist knew this and booked me in for the tests for a new pair. And today they arrived. These new ones have AI noise reduction, and I have to tell you it really works. In a noisy environment – like a shopping centre, I can switch on AI noise reduction and Carmel’s voice pops out above all the chatter and clatter and I can hear what she is saying. That is the important stuff that I need to listen to.
Our world is currently pretty noisy. The news is full of what the Americans, Israelis and Iranians are up to. Furthermore, there are plenty of Christian, and Seventh-day Adventist websites that are bent on amplifying the noise, telling me I should listen to it and interpret it because my salvation may depend on it. Forgive me if I am a little bit skeptical because I am old, but my memory is as clear as a bell. I can remember the cold war, Russia invading Hungary, the Korean War, the Vietnam war, the Afganistan war. I remember when nuclear bomb testing was an international pastime. The current noise is a continuation of the global noise that we have had ever since World War 2,
What do I hear when I put my noise cancelling spiritual hearing aids on? Jesus said:
… and then I read:
Clear as a bell, the message cuts through the current noise with the Gospel commission. The world needs to experience the Gospel, not just hear it in terms of definitions and arguments but to share and experience the relationship. Paul’s epistle to the Colossians is important in this context because so much of it is about personal relationships. When powered by the Holy Spirit we can cut through the noise of international politics to extend that relationship to others.
AMEN and AMEN Maurice!!!
How can fish live in water and yet fail to be in love with water? How is it possible that we can live in the world and yet not belong to the world? Did God create all things good and gave mankind dominion over them for his sustenance? What went wrong with the good things that God created? The advent of sin changed the whole equation. What God created became His enemy. What was meant to be for the good of mankind became hostile and deadly to him. This world is no longer friendly. There are all sorts of deadly natural events that exterminate human lives – diseases, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, droughts, and many more. Even as we live in this world, we are reminded time and time again that this is not our final home. The call by Jesus (John 17:14-16) not to belong to this world is a call not to allow the world to have dominion over us. As we live in the world, we must not allow the world to live in us. The world is suffering from sin sickness. We stand to be contaminated if the world lives in us. The world is deadly contagious with a deadly virus (sin), and we need to be “inoculated” with the blood of Jesus to give us immunity.
We must take both spiritual and practical actions to keep ourselves from being swallowed by the world.
1. We must dwell on things above more than the earthly stuff. We must not allow our earth and mind to be consumed by temporally material things.
2. We must invest quality time in studying the Word of God with meaning and purpose.
3. We must make every effort possible to improve our prayer life.
4. All that we do, we must invite the Holy Spirit to lead and guide us.
5. We must engage our resources (time, financial, skills, knowledge, experience, blessings) for the good of others. We must be deliberate in being generous.
6. We must resolve to be different from the world – what we choose to do, eat, wear, watch, read, listen, and the places we go, should edify God.
I can testify that I have been called from darkness into the marvellous light through Christ Jesus (1 Peter 2:9). All I am doing is continuing to be exposed to the light. This light will dispel the darkness within and around me. Dear Jesus, please help me to stay in your marvellous light.
To answer your first question, “How can fish live in water and yet fail to be in love with water?” Fish aren’t in love with the water because they take it for granted because they live in it. I daresay they are unaware of “water.”
So how do we apply that to our living in this world?
Dear Inge,
Just a quick response, during my work-break.
Without any sense of judgment whatsoever, from the look of things, some people have settled in this world as fish is settled in water as their final home. As fish is completely at home in water, so it is to some folks. Fish will never desire to live in any other environment other than water. Jesus cautioned us not to have the fish mentality. This is not the best environment for us to live in. Possibly, how can one develop the fish mentality?
1. When the earthly success becomes our ultimate goal – money, status, career, family, business, etc
2. Comfort – Fish is always comfortable and at home in water. Unfortunately, to some people, they have adopted to this world and they are absolutely comfortable. This world has become the most comfortable zone. This is a very dangerous position to be.
3. Sin becomes ever attractive – Fish is never even aware that it is in water. It does not even notice of its surroundings. When sin becomes addictive, our conscience gets seared (1 Timothy 4:2). At this point, the fish mentality is fully developed in us. It will require God alone to do a miracle to reverse the condition.
4. When eternity does not appeal to us anymore – I truly love and desire the mentality of Abraham who considered himself as a stranger and a pilgrim in the Promised Land. But he looked forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. Abraham never settled in a land flowing with honey and milk; he lived in tents because there was a better land. To him this world was not his final home.(Hebrews 11: 8-16)
Thank you, Omwenga. Your expansion of the metaphor makes it very instructive.
There’s another aspect to this as well: The “water” of thus world is not our final home, but like fish, who cannot naturally live in air instead of water, we cannot naturally live in the Kingdom of God. We need to become “new creatures,” with new hearts in order to breathe and live in the atmosphere of heaven.
Exactly Inge! Just as we are dependent upon breathing air, yet we are pretty much unaware of being surrounded by it until or unless our ability to access it is in some way compromised. The fish is unaware of his environment until it is removed from it. A fish out of water cannot breathe. We should be as uncomfortable in this world as a fish out of water.
It is good when a boat is in the water. It is not good when water is in the boat. Likewise it is good for Adventist Christians to be in the world sharing the gospel and the three angels messages to the world. What’s not good is when the ways and love of this world, entertainment, pursuing wealth, and forgetting why we are here infiltrate our lives. When the “world” gets in the heart of the Christian it’s not a good thing.
If this world is not our home then we must live like it. I like Maurice’s analogy of having spiritual hearing aids that filter out the noise and confusion of everything that distracts us from
the most important voice, that of Jesus.
We should be uncomfortable in the world. Unfortunately, I think our tendency to equate the world with Hollywood and similar institutions has led us to not really get the breadth of what John was talking about.
Just as Heaven is more about God’s values than streets of gold, the world is far more than fashions and movies and what not. Those things may be part of being worldly, but the bigger problem is worldly values, which are really Satan’s values. What was his fatal flaw? It wasn’t TV or a fur coat or an iphone. It was pride and jealousy. And those things are in the church. You can have the most simple living Adventist who struggles with those sins. And that’s what we need to be so aware of.
Ah, your analogy of water and the boat is also helpful:
Dear Inge. To your question – How can fish live in water and yet fail to be in love with water ? My answer is they were designed to live in water. It is their Right to love water.
Our situation is different. St Augustine of Hippo said it beautifully – “…for Thou hast formed us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless till they find rest in Thee” People who live their lives outside of Christ are like “fish seeking to live outside of water.”
An excellent analogy, Maurice. To extend it a little further, the message is that hearing aids are no benefit unless we choose to keep them on and regularly replace or charge the batteries. I thank God that the Holy Spirit is always available to “keep the batteries charged.”
Thanks, Peter. I love your extension.
Getting Israel out of Egypt (the world), was a lot easier than getting Egypt out of Israel. Both Israel, and Demas show us that the appeal of Egypt (the world), does not stop after conversion. In the case of Israel, it took an experience in the Wilderness with God to be transformed into a people who had the capacity to enter the promised land.
The wilderness, while vital, is a dangerous place where you can easily get lost – like Demas. However, there is hope. Israel made it through because of God’s covenantal commitment to them, and their sometimes-dysfunctional commitment to God. Even though, they stumbled, tripped, wandered off, argued amongst themselves, were tempted and fell – they stayed the course, and kept following the cloud.
It is of interest to me, that the largest chunk of time during their wilderness experience can be found between Numbers 19:22, and the next verse, Numbers 20:1. Between these two verses is 38 years of Biblical silence! In other words – the mundanity of life.
Surviving the world is possible – we just need to keep going despite our stumbles, trips, wondering off, and all the other crap associated with life. Never give up, and keep your eyes on Jesus. I’d like to think that even though Demas left, in the end, he came back.
Some might be interested in a recent article I wrote in the Adventist Record dealing with this topic: https://record.adventistchurch.com/2025/11/27/reframing-the-wilderness/
You successfully linked today’s lesson with Israel’s wilderness experience. (It could also be linked to their time in Egypt and the Babylonian captivity – especially meaningful in light of the call to “Come out of her, my people!”)
I appreciate your link to your article “Reframing the wilderness,” which focuses on the book of Numbers. I was interested to read this in your article
That title is a bit more interesting.
Leviticus and Numbers are generally a challenge to new Bible readers, and I confess I still skim sections. Now, when I encourage people to read the Bible book-by-book (not necessarily in order), I’ll remind them that “Numbers” was originally called “In the Wilderness.” Too bad our modern Bibles have not reverted to that name!
The grip the world has upon human hearts is very strong. For example, if I fall down with iPhone 17 in my pocket, my wish is that it is better to break a leg than the phone! I for sure love good cars like BMWs with the comfort they come with; my love for things of this world is on another level. The Bible records that when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate… ~ Genesis 3:6. What she did was to absolutely plug into the seduction of this world. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes took over, and as a consequence the whole of humanity got plugged deep into sin because of the seduction of the world. The plugs today can be a phone, money, self, good life, or even a bank account that lead us away from God.
The love of the world is a heart condition that comes with excessive craving for the things of the world, treating them as the ultimate goal of our life that draws us away from God. It’s not an outside problem but an inside problem, this is a condition of our hearts. Love for the world cannot be destroyed merely by emptiness, as this can at best lead to despair. “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in them.” ~ 1 John 2:15. My world-centered love can only be expelled by a new love and affection for God, for the love of the world and the love of the Father cannot dwell in the same heart.
Lord, please help me and my family. We are burdened with so many cares, and fears for tomorrow. We are tired both spiritually and physically, please give us rest and help us understand and appreciate the fact we can cast all our burdens unto you for your care. Amen!
While we are still alive, we all have areas in which we need to improve. The question is: “Do I want to?” Trying to know the mind of God may train the believer to a constant change.