What Are the World's Tactics?

16 For all that is in the world -- the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life -- is not from the Father but is from the world.

Remember your castle. You want Jesus seated firmly on its throne. But the devil tries to appeal to your sinful desires with the world system he controls. He hopes you'll surrender to one of his tactics. And, though he carries out these tactics in billions of ways, he only has three temptations he uses over and over again. Let's look at each of them, in order, while thinking about how they particularly affect us, and how we can overcome each.

Desires of the Eyes

Last week, we noted the desires of the flesh. Next, John mentions the desires of the eyes, which is likely the desire to have what you see. If the first was a desire to feel, this is a desire to have. In this temptation, Jesus is on the throne of someone's heart, but their eye-gate sees something which endangers Christ's rule. The tempted person begins thinking, "I see it, and I want it." Soon, Christ is asked to give up His supremacy.

As men, it isn't hard to imagine how the desire or lust of the eyes, the temptation to have, invades our everyday experience. Feelings of greed and covetousness are constant battles. When thinking about money, we want copious amounts of security, flexibility to do tons of fun things, and the ability to take it easy. When thinking about possessions, we crave bigger and better housing (or features in that housing), nicer clothing, the latest technology, and the latest and greatest of whatever hobby we're into at the moment. When thinking about experiences, we long for Instagram-worthy vacations, nice dinners at the freshest restaurants, and the hottest seats at the hottest sporting events.

I mean, we hear the voice of Jesus saying things like:

Luke 12:15 (ESV) — 15 Be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.

We also read Jesus' description, in the same passage, of the foolish man:

Luke 12:21 (ESV) — 21 ...the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God."

But amid Scriptural warnings such as these, our discontented hearts often get the best of us. Soon, the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches choke out any potential fruitfulness from our lives. Mortgages and loan payments and maintenance and 80-hour workweeks all begin to take up the space we could've used for God's kingdom. The world has gotten the throne it desired.

Antidote #2: Generosity

This is why we need the antidote of generosity. When you tell money where to go it loses its power over you. The chase is on for bigger and better, but the generous person can get out of that race. They know they can give without loving, but that he cannot love without giving. Generosity helps awaken his love and care for others.

Jesus said:

Matthew 6:21 (ESV) — 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

This means the generous man, one who gives the treasure of his time and energy to God and His kingdom, will have a passionate heart for God and His kingdom. His heart will follow his money. His heart will follow his calendar. This heart helps protect him from the inevitable temptation to have.

Look, God is a giver. He gave Himself for us. And if you emulate Him, you'll discover great reward flows from Him.

Regarding giving, Jesus said:

Matthew 6:4 (ESV) — 4 Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

When secretly generous, God will reward you. How so?

God will provide for all your needs. Jesus would point this out later in this same passage, saying, "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you" (Matthew 6:33). We saw this same principle at work when we studied Philippians. God provides for the generous.

But secret generosity yields many more rewards than God's provision.

• For one, generosity yields victory over the power of money. When we are generous, with our fellow man, our local church, or another ministry, we will find a release on the grip money has on us. Money is neither good nor evil but a tool. Generosity keeps it from tooling us.

• Second, generosity yields victory over the power of possessions. Commercialism has engulfed our society, but the generous person gains victory against the constant pull of wanting bigger and better.

• Third, generosity yields victory over the pull of comfort. We often want to trust money rather than God. Generosity helps us trust in Him because we have less to trust ourselves with.

The list could go on, for the reward of the Father for generosity is endless. Suffice it to say, here though, that generosity will help you overcome the desire of the eyes, the temptation to have.