Spiritual Fathers

 Jeremiah 21, 24, 27; Psalms 118; 1 John 2 

 “I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning…Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love for the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of the eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.”

1 John 2:13, 15-17

Spiritual fathers know God and his love. They have chosen eternal values and live by God’s ways rather that the desires of the world which pass away. The pull of immediate gratification through the lust for things and pleasure, and the pride of accomplishments, status, and accumulating things, is known by spiritual fathers; however, they recognize that the love of this world will not last. Spiritual fathers raise children in God’s kingdom because they are full of the life of God and his Spirit. They live for the will of God, and are full of his love.

Are we still children living for ourselves, or are we spiritual parents who consider others and eternal values first?

“Lord Jesus, I repent for loving the world and its desires. Fill me with your love so I too can father spiritual children in your kingdom.”