Resisting the Lure of Vanity

By the term “vanity,” we comprehend all those things which are prone to absorb the desires and affections of men. The Apostle John categorizes them all as: “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life!” They rightfully merit the label of vanities, as they are certain to disillusion the desires and expectations of those who seek in them any substantial and enduring satisfaction.

Nevertheless, these worldly vanities irresistibly captivate and enthrall the minds of the majority of men. The unregenerate man pursues nothing but them. His mind is not preoccupied with anything beyond them. He “is in the flesh;” he “walks according to the flesh,” fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. His affections are wholly set upon things below, and not on things above. His thoughts, conversations, and daily labors all originate from and culminate in the temporal and the tangible. And from these alone spring all his hopes and fears, joys, and sorrows!

To elude the ensnaring power and lethal influence of worldly vanities, we must exercise vigilance over all our senses. The senses serve as conduits for all manner of evil! Alas! how frequently has the mind been contaminated by what it has either seen or heard!

Many of the vilest lusts have gained entry into the heart through the senses! Some have discovered, to their detriment, that a single sinful idea seen in a book or picture or heard in conversation has lingered with them through life, while hundreds of sermons they wished to remember have vanished from their minds like the morning cloud!

Consider David, the man after God’s own heart; what cause had he to regret the day he beheld Bathsheba! Solomon’s fool also had reason to lament listening to the voice of the enchanting adulteress! (Proverbs 7:6-23) Solomon wisely advises us not to gaze upon wine when it sparkles in the glass (Proverbs 23:31-32).

We must resist the initial entry of sin into the soul, for it operates like fire on a wooden house. Alas! “how great a matter does a little fire kindle!” (James 3:5). Sin’s progression is swift. Who can halt the conflagration once it has ignited? “When lust has conceived, it brings forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, brings forth death!” (James 1:15).

We implore all, like Job, to covenant with their eyes, ears, and even the imaginations of their hearts, so that neither their physical nor intellectual eyes become gateways to sin or betrayers of their souls.

Oh! Remember the true nature of worldly pleasures—they are entirely vanity! “Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity!” (Psalm 119:37).

-Charles Simeon