10-Jet Set Mentality

Revelation 18:14-16,

14)”And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and sumptuous are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. 15)The merchants of these things, who were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 16)And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and bedecked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!”

What kind of lifestyle do you think of when you hear “jet-set”? The first thoughts that enter my mind are rich, first-class and spoiled. We see in verse 14 that the Babylonians became very extravagant in their tastes. This attitude is manifested when one’s heart and desires are for earthly treasures, not the riches of Heaven. When a person’s heart is set on earthly gain, he will never be satisfied.

Apparently the tastes and desires of the Babylonian people have increased to a point that everything must be the biggest and best. Their stomachs are filled with tapeworms; they can never have enough. They are missing that contentment that Paul charges us to understand and to live in.

No where in the world is this “mentality” found more than in America and Western Europe. It is the western world, remember, that controls the money system, which empowers people to purchase all the desires of their hearts. More and more people are becoming discontented and dissatisfied with what they possess. People are filled with fear of loss or lack. This leads them to love their own selves and desire or lust for more. This is the very root of sin according to the Bible.

Westerners must have the finest of everything. Their purchases must be the latest and newest of fashion and design. This idolatrous spirit is not limited to the super rich, for even the average wage earner seeks after finer things. The whole motivation behind the “American Dream” of owning a home, two cars in the garage, a cabin on the lake, is all based on discontentment and covetousness. Because the Holy Spirit is not the power in charge of their desires, the devil leads them to desire the nicest, most expensive things money can buy.

Today’s Christians are told to see what they want, then have faith that God will give it to them. What perversion of truth. This kind of teaching only excites the fleshly desires of men and turns them even further from the power of Jesus Christ.

The word “dainty” means something delicious or a delicacy. When we are desiring the delicious things of this world, all in the Lord’s name, we won’t be too concerned with the welfare of someone else. The devil is very deceptive when it comes to the material things of the earth. The Babylonian mentality toward material things resembles the thinking of the Laodecian church. Is the Laodecian church located on Babylonian soil? It appears that it is.

Our heritage as Christians is one of willing sacrifice and suffering for the name of Jesus. That doesn’t mean that a person should strive for pain and poverty, thinking that enhances his spirituality and standing before God. That “monk” mentality is as perverted as the Babylonians who strive to be rich.

When you are truly seeking the knowledge of Jesus, you won’t be searching and seeking after the finer things of the earth. Neither will you seek to be poor and poverty stricken to show off your spirituality. That kind of thinking is the wisdom of this world, which is foolishness to God. Can you see the wisdom that God reveals in the Proverbs?

Proverbs 30:7-9,

7)”Two things have I required of thee; deny them not to me before I die; 8)Remove far from me vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me, 9)Lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? Or lest I be poor, and steal, and take the name of my God in vain.”

These scriptures reveal the heart of a man that is honest before God. He knows, probably from experience, what it means to desire the dainties of this world. He has met God and decided that nothing of this earth can compare with Him. He knew how pride, vanity, and riches can make one so self-aware that he would forget the Lord in his daily life.

A Spirit-led man will recognize the thoughts that enter his mind to constantly desire something finer, are the fiery darts of the devil. If you find yourself trapped in the web of Babylonian materialism, if the wisdom of the Proverbs is not part of your mentality, and you would like it to be, there is only one way to freedom. You must acknowledge your sin before God, desire to be free, and receive Jesus into your heart, and let His Spirit fill your mind and heart with faith and love.

Babylon will burn from coast to coast because the people lusted after the delicacies of the world. Don’t be part of the group who will weep and wail when the financial empires of Babylon are burning to the ground. Be part of the group who weep and mourn over their sinfulness, and the immeasurable grace of God to forgive and cleanse that sin from their very presence. Babylon the great is falling, don’t you!