O my soul, stand upon your guard, gird on your strength with such thoughts as these: What can the world profit me if its cares choke me?
How can pleasures comfort me if their sting poisons me?
What advancement is this to be triumphing in honor before the face of men here, and to be trembling for shame before the throne of GOD hereafter?
What are the delights of the world compared to my peace of conscience, or the joy that is in the Holy Spirit?
What are the applauses of men compared to the eternal crown of glory prepared by GOD?
What is the gain of the world compared to the loss of my soul?
The vanity of the world is far beneath the excellency of my soul. Therefore, Satan, I am determined to resist you, for you desire my eternal loss!
1Jn 2:15 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.
1Jn 2:16 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.
1Jn 2:17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
~Thomas Sherman~