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Life's Short - Heaven's Forever I John 2:16-17 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. There needs to be a daily checkup in your life to see if you are living for the Lord and not being selfish. Whatever satisfies the flesh, things you should not look at, and what you want selfishly should not be a part of our lives should be avoided if we are going to serve God. These three temptations: What we desire to satisfy the flesh, what we look on that is evil, and what feeds self-gratification was what Adam and Eve were tempted with and fell. They were also what Satan tempted Jesus with in the wilderness temptations. All temptations seem to come through these lenses. The big lie is all this stuff will make you happy. You are missing something if you don’t partake in what they lead you to do. And really, you are. You are missing heartache, misery, hurtful feelings, the after-effects of sin, and its consequences if you don’t partake of these temptations lead you to do. THESE ARE GOOD MISSES! But Satan comes, and he even uses people to say if you don’t partake in what God calls sin to gratify your flesh, you will not be happy. That’s not what the Bible says. It says the way of the sinner is hard (Prov 13:15), the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23 and it is hard to swim upstream when sin drags you down. On the other hand: When you do God’s will, you lose your life in others. You don’t constantly want to indulge in things that you think will make you happy that are sinful. When you lose your life in others and do God’s will, then forget about this stuff and find true joy in making others happy and that you are in the center of what God wants you to do. Any old dead fish can float downstream with the rest of the crowd, but it takes an alive and determined fish to swim upstream against it, but it's worth it. The simple reason it’s worth serving God and doing His will is fulfilling is because these things outlive this world and are precious treasures, we store up in heaven not to gain points but for the sheer joy of serving others and doing God’s Will. A person wrapped up in themselves is a mighty small package. Those who do God’s Will, however, have the creator of the universe bestowing joy on them, which will never end. --- Dan Nelson