Attachments Sermon

Attachments

People try to hold on to life because they fear dying. But learning to live isn’t about grasping on to things. It isn’t about clinging to everything and everyone. It’s about learning to let go. Learning to live is learning to let go. Learning to let go is learning to be happy.

Attachment is the emotional dependence we put on things, or people, with some degree of our survival interwoven into the precious thing we hold so dear.”

And thus I have discovered: Sometimes the dreams we chase and the life we design for ourselves really do provide us with happiness and peace, and yet sometimes it takes letting go, and having faith like we have faith in our next breath, that there is a divine and perfect order; we just might not be seeing it at the time.

Learning to Love Everything and Be Attached To Nothing

Many of us can’t seem to grasp this idea of loving everything and being attached to nothing. Years ago I couldn’t understand it either, but as time went by and as I started to ponder upon this idea and as I started to practice it, I got better at it.

Be attached to nothing.

10 Life-Changing Facts About Attachment

Posted By: Gail Brenner



“The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.”

~Epictetus

I have made a very interesting discovery. Whenever I have a reaction to anything – a person or situation, something someone says or does, I am attached. I am holding a belief or expectation that things should go a certain way or that a given outcome should occur. I want what I want, and in that attachment, I suffer.

The Fallout from Being Attached

I recently spoke to a very frustrated friend who had just discovered a big computer glitch. Our conversation revealed many attachments she was holding – that things that are working should stay the same, that programs shouldn’t have bugs, that her schedule for the day shouldn’t be interrupted because of this.

Sanity returned as she saw how these attachments were causing her to resist the reality of the moment.

Simply said, when we make our happiness dependent on people, money, success, possessions, or circumstances, we suffer. Attachments are sticky. Our freedom goes out the window, and we react emotionally and maneuver to get what we want and reject what we don’t want. Oh, if only the world would cater to our personal desires.

Just for a moment, imagine being free of attachments. Things come and go, but you are stable and unmoving in the midst of it all. It doesn’t mean you don’t care. In fact, in the lack of clinging, you are free to care deeply. The most intimate state of being is devoid of the separation that attachment brings.

Are You Attached?

Chance are that whenever you find yourself in reaction, you are attached. You are looking through a lens of “me” – how I think things should be, what I think should or shouldn’t happen – and then reacting when things don’t go according to your plan.

Do you find yourself feeling frustrated, angry, scared, sad? Then you are probably attached. You are stuck and not available to the comings and goings of life. Consider exploring your attachments, and re-discovering freedom, with these potentially life-changing facts.

10 Life-Changing Facts

1. Attachments to people prevent us from examining ourselves. Clinging to someone in a relationship often masks an underlying sense of lack or unworthiness that can benefit from your loving exploration. Are you willing to take the focus off the other to see what thoughts and feelings are driving you?

2. Attachments to identities keep us stuck. Are you aware of any habitual ways in which you react emotionally? See if you can pinpoint the identity you hold about yourself. Maybe it doesn’t serve you anymore, and you can give yourself the freedom to respond with greater wisdom and awareness.

3. What often underlies attachment is a fear of not being in control. Can you befriend the unknown and receive things as they happen?

4. The root of many relationship problems is that people are attached to what others should say or do. Recognize when someone is attached to how you should be. Rather than resisting and creating conflict, stay grounded in yourself. Feel compassion for the other’s fear and confusion.

5. Attachment to possessions or money is all about fear. Have as many possessions as you want, but don’t stake your happiness on them. Do your possessions define you? Deeply contemplate losing them all, and realize that you don’t really own anything.

6. Attachment to wanting what you don’t have leads to interminable unhappiness. Can you shift your orientation to appreciate what is already here?

7. Being attached to your needs makes you a victim of circumstances. Do you really need what you think you need? Maybe you are stronger and more whole than you think.

8. Not being attached brings relaxation and ease. You no longer worry about losing what you have. This doesn’t mean that you aren’t excited about having something or sad about its loss. But your underlying peace is not disturbed.

9. Attachment to beliefs and ideas is like living in a small space with many walls. Everywhere you turn, you bump into one. Can you let yourself be vulnerable and open by abandoning your treasured beliefs?

10. When all attachments fall away, what remains is reality. When we see things without the veil of our attachments, we realize life – delicious, pure, luminous, and true.

What have you discovered about your attachments? What happens when you let them go? I’d love to hear…

◄ 1 Corinthians 7:31 ►

New International Version

those who use the things of the world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.

1 John 2:15

New International Version

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.

Colossians 31Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.2Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.3For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.4When Christ, who is your [1] life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.5Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.6Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. [2]7You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.8But now you must rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.9Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices10and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.11Here there is no Greek or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.12Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.13Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.14And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.15Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.17And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.18Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.19Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.20Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.21Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.22Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to win their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.23Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,24since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.25Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

[4] Some manuscripts our

[6] Some early manuscripts coming on those who are disobedient

1 John 2:15 (TEBC): When the moon shines, it’s actually reflecting the light of the sun. Sometimes the earth gets in the way, though, so that the moon’s light is diminished. Similarly, we have an enemy that prevents us from reflecting the Son’s light on us. That enemy is called the world.

Do not love the world. When John talks about “the world,” he’s not talking about planet earth. He’s talking about an organized system headed by Satan that draws us away from God’s love and will. If you love the world, you lose intimate fellowship with God. You love the world when it owns your affections and governs your choices by getting you to exclude God.

100 Bible Verses aboutWorldly Things

1 John 2:15-17 ESV / 1,143 helpful votes

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. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Colossians 3:2 ESV / 662 helpful votes

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

James 4:4 ESV / 412 helpful votes

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.

Romans 12:2 ESV / 335 helpful votes

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Ephesians 5:11 ESV / 326 helpful votes

Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Titus 2:11-12 ESV / 297 helpful votes

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Exodus 14:14 ESV / 221 helpful votes

The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”

Isaiah 41:10 ESV / 196 helpful votes

Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Isaiah 40:31 ESV / 178 helpful votes

But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Matthew 16:26 ESV / 175 helpful votes

For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

Titus 2:12 ESV / 152 helpful votes

Training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age,

Psalm 37:4 ESV / 152 helpful votes

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV / 149 helpful votes

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Luke 16:11 ESV / 143 helpful votes

If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches?

John 3:16 ESV / 135 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV / 128 helpful votes

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

1 John 2:15 ESV / 122 helpful votes

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.

1 Peter 4:7 ESV / 111 helpful votes

The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers.

2 Corinthians 4:18 ESV / 95 helpful votes

As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Philippians 4:13 ESV / 94 helpful votes

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

Matthew 12:30 ESV / 85 helpful votes

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

1 Corinthians 3:16 ESV / 84 helpful votes

Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?

Jeremiah 17:10 ESV / 82 helpful votes

“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Proverbs 21:20 ESV / 78 helpful votes

Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.

1 John 2:17 ESV / 75 helpful votes

And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

1 John 2:16 ESV / 75 helpful votes

For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world.

John 15:18-19 ESV / 75 helpful votes

“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Galatians 5:16 ESV / 72 helpful votes

But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

Colossians 3:20 ESV / 70 helpful votes

Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Proverbs 22:7 ESV / 70 helpful votes

The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is the slave of the lender.

Proverbs 13:22 ESV / 69 helpful votes

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children's children, but the sinner's wealth is laid up for the righteous.

2 John 1:2 ESV / 67 helpful votes

Because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:

John 14:27 ESV / 67 helpful votes

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.

Luke 12:15 ESV / 66 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.”

Matthew 6:24 ESV / 63 helpful votes

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.

John 16:33 ESV / 61 helpful votes

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.”

Romans 5:1-21 ESV / 60 helpful votes

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. ...

Matthew 6:33 ESV / 60 helpful votes

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

1 Peter 5:7 ESV / 58 helpful votes

Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.

2 Peter 1:4 ESV / 56 helpful votes

By which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.

1 Peter 3:13 ESV / 55 helpful votes

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good?

James 1:27 ESV / 54 helpful votes

Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

Matthew 25:15 ESV / 54 helpful votes

To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away.

1 John 5:19 ESV / 52 helpful votes

We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

1 John 3:1 ESV / 51 helpful votes

See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.

Hebrews 11:1 ESV / 51 helpful votes

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

Luke 14:28 ESV / 51 helpful votes

For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?

Galatians 2:20 ESV / 50 helpful votes

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

John 14:1 ESV / 49 helpful votes

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.

John 8:12 ESV / 49 helpful votes

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Proverbs 11:28 ESV / 49 helpful votes

Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish like a green leaf.

Colossians 3:5 ESV / 47 helpful votes

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Luke 1:37 ESV / 47 helpful votes

For nothing will be impossible with God.”

1 John 5:4 ESV / 46 helpful votes

For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.

Philippians 4:8 ESV / 46 helpful votes

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.

1 Peter 5:8 ESV / 45 helpful votes

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.

1 Peter 5:6 ESV / 45 helpful votes

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you,

2 Timothy 1:7 ESV / 44 helpful votes

For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

John 15:19 ESV / 44 helpful votes

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Romans 12:1-2 ESV / 42 helpful votes

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Romans 3:12 ESV / 41 helpful votes

All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

Romans 1:20 ESV / 41 helpful votes

For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.

Luke 8:14 ESV / 40 helpful votes

And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.

Romans 8:18 ESV / 39 helpful votes

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

Luke 16:13 ESV / 39 helpful votes

No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”

Jeremiah 29:11 ESV / 39 helpful votes

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Matthew 6:19 ESV / 38 helpful votes

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal,

Revelation 21:1 ESV / 37 helpful votes

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

1 John 4:5 ESV / 37 helpful votes

They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.

1 Corinthians 3:18 ESV / 36 helpful votes

Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.

Romans 5:8 ESV / 36 helpful votes

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Matthew 5:16 ESV / 36 helpful votes

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

James 1:17 ESV / 35 helpful votes

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

2 Corinthians 4:4 ESV / 35 helpful votes

In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

Matthew 22:37 ESV / 35 helpful votes

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.

Amos 6:1 ESV / 35 helpful votes

“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, the notable men of the first of the nations, to whom the house of Israel comes!

Proverbs 25:27 ESV / 35 helpful votes

It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory.

Psalm 101:3 ESV / 35 helpful votes

I will not set before my eyes anything that is worthless. I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.

1 John 2:2 ESV / 34 helpful votes

He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.

1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV / 34 helpful votes

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,

Mark 8:36 ESV / 34 helpful votes

For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?

Romans 8:28 ESV / 33 helpful votes

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

James 1:12 ESV / 32 helpful votes

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

John 3:16-17 ESV / 30 helpful votes

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.

1 John 1:9 ESV / 29 helpful votes

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Ephesians 2:2 ESV / 28 helpful votes

In which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—

Revelation 1:1-20 ESV / 27 helpful votes

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. John to the seven churches that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth. To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood ...

Colossians 3:23 ESV / 27 helpful votes

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men,

Philippians 4:6 ESV / 27 helpful votes

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

2 Corinthians 10:3 ESV / 27 helpful votes

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh.

1 Corinthians 1:28-29 ESV / 27 helpful votes

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV / 27 helpful votes

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Timothy 6:7-8 ESV / 26 helpful votes

For we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.

Philippians 3:20 ESV / 26 helpful votes

But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,

Mark 16:15 ESV / 25 helpful votes

And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.

Ephesians 3:20 ESV / 24 helpful votes

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

James 2:5 ESV / 22 helpful votes

Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him?

Colossians 3:1 ESV / 22 helpful votes

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Matthew 13:22 ESV / 22 helpful votes

As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

Psalm 31:19 ESV / 21 helpful votes

Oh, how abundant is your goodness, which you have stored up for those who fear you and worked for those who take refuge in you, in the sight of the children of mankind!

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