Love the Father NOT the world

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"Do not love the world or anything in the world.  If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.  For everything in the world - the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does - comes not from the Father but from the world.  The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever."  1 John 2:15 - 17

I'm sure that we can all relate in some way to today's scripture from 1 John but we need to first differentiate between "the world" and "the people in the world".  Just as we learned last week in John 3:16 - "God so loved the world" John is referring to every single person in the world.  Today, in these verses from 1 John we are talking about "worldliness" which has to do with our moral mindset and our actions.  Another way of saying this is that God loves the sinner but hates the sin. 

Specifically we are talking about 4 different categories:

1. "The cravings of sinful man" - the lust of the flesh or anything that we desire that does not glorify God.

2.  "The lust of his eyes" - Since I am a visual person this category is both my weakness and my strength.  This doesn't just refer to sexual lusts - it could be a visual obsession to look or dress like some celebrity or some style that you saw in a magazine.  Or maybe your favorite TV show is on and you say to yourself "I'll pray later - after this show" - visual prioritizing.  I could go on and on - There are many other examples in this visually stimulating world.

3. "Boasting of what he has" - this is Materialism.  I looked up the meaning of "Materialism - preoccupation with material objects, comforts and considerations, with a disinterest in or rejection of spiritual, intellectual or cultural values."  

4.  "Boasting of what he does" - this is arrogance in social standing, wealth and profession.  Bragging about how much money you have or boastful about your station in life - thinking that you are better than others because of what you do.  We are not saved by works - we are saved by grace & mercy;  having this arrogant attitude is anti-Christian and is detrimental to our spiritual life.

Verse 17 puts all of us in our place:  "The world & its desires pass away" - just like this fast paced changing digital world - all of our worldly desires fly by and are invalid in a second.  Then the glorious part of verse 17 -  "but the man who does the will of God lives forever." 

Does that ever put things into perspective - an obsolete worldly desire or eternity with God - which one will you choose?  



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