1 John 2:15-16 tells us about three temptations that come to every human being.
1 John 2:15-16
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
These three temptations come to every human.
#1 The lust of the flesh
When you have the lust of the flesh, you spend all of your time and energy and focus to gain whatever it is that your flesh wants. When you don’t overcome the lust of the flesh, you do anything it takes to make your flesh happy, regardless of who it hurts.
The lust of the flesh brings death. That is what happened to Eve in Genesis 3.
#2 The lust of the eyes
The lust of the eyes is the desire for whatever your eyes see, for whatever you think is beautiful. This could be a woman or a man or food or material possessions. When you have the lust of the eyes, you work for whatever it is that your eyes see. You put that thing above everything else.
The lust of the eyes brings perversion and adultery into our lives and destroys marriage.
It’s OK to have things, but when the desire for what you see is greater than anything else, that is a problem. When you want what you see and that thing doesn’t glorify God, it’s a problem. When you have the lust of the eyes, you misuse God’s money and time and your energy.
#3 The pride of life
The pride of life is the desire to be higher than others. You want to have a higher position. You want recognition. You want to achieve more than others.
When you are filled with the pride of life, you forget who you are and where you came from. You are filled with the spirit of competition. You talk to others like they don’t know anything; you become very condescending. Those who have the pride of life look down on others.
The pride of life comes into your heart when you overvalue yourself and forget who you are. It comes when you are in denial of your pride.
There really isn’t anyone in this world that is truly humble. Everyone deals with pride. But when you think that you don’t have any pride, you are actually dealing with the pride of life.
God knows exactly who you are and your ability. When you overvalue yourself, it is a sin.
We all need to see ourselves through the eyes of God.
Genesis 3:1-6
1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.
In the Garden of Eden, Eve was dealing with these three temptations. The tree looked desirable (lust of the eyes) and good for food (lust of the flesh). She was also filled with the pride of life – the desire to become wise like God.
Adam and Eve were created as very intelligent in the first place. Adam named all of the animals. Can you imagine how wise he was? But they wanted to eat of the fruit. They wanted to be as wise as God. They had everything they needed, but they weren’t satisfied; they wanted more. They believed the lie from the serpent, from the devil.
We must overcome these three temptations in order to live a successful life in Christ.
God bless you,
Pastor Sun East