Do Not Love This World?

“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.” 1 John 2:15

“Do not love this world?” Wait a minute, this world is the only world we know, the only physical world, anyway. The sounds, sights, tastes, aromas and the textures of this world surround us every day of our lives and there is no escaping them. It is in this world that we are born to a mother and father, into a family that loves and nurtures us. It is also in this world that we have gotten to experience the majestic panoramic view of monuments such as the Grand Canyon which awe and inspire many. How about standing over Hoover Dam, the structure that tames the waters of the Colorado River? Our senses are taken captive by such sights and power. Let’s not forget the foods we love to indulge in, or the recreational toys that offer hours of enjoyment. How about power, glory and fame? These are just some of the things the world offers and according to 1 John 2:15, we aren’t supposed to love them.

“For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the father, but from this world.” 1 John 2:16

As I sat and read 1 John 2:15-17, a passage I have read before more than once, the Lord began to speak to my heart and open my eyes. It’s an absolute wonder how each time we read the same passage a little more is revealed to us about not only its meaning, but its meaning in our lives. I love my family, my husband and children, our home, our pets and everything about our life together, even our struggles. You are probably wondering, “How can she love her struggles?” Well, let me correct myself, I don’t actually love my struggles, but I do accept them as character building and necessary in this life. (I didn’t always accept them, but by walking in Christ and studying God’s word, I have grown in my faith.) I also accept that until I am on the other side of eternity, I will not know the exact purpose of each struggle I faced here on Earth. As much as I love everything about our life together, I know without a shadow of a doubt, that I must never place this life here on Earth before my love for God.

Day six of Rick Warren’s book, The Purpose Driven Life, is titled Life Is a Temporary Assignment. Rick Warren reminds us that in the Bible there are several references to how brief our stay on Earth is. “It is a fatal mistake to assume that God’s goal for your life is material prosperity or popular success, as the world defines it. The abundant life has nothing to do with material abundance, and faithfulness to God does not guarantee success in a career or even in a ministry. Never focus on temporary crowns.” (The Purpose Driven Life, 48) At the end of day six in his book there is a section called, “Thinking About My Purpose” and in that section Rick Warren gives us a question to consider. “How should the fact that life on earth is just a temporary assignment change the way I am living right now.” (The Purpose Driven Life, 52) That is a great question to consider and I think we all need to spend some time in God’s word reflecting on this question and how we would answer it.

We should enjoy our families and the splendors of the world we live in, but we must never forget that this is not our home. One day Jesus Christ will return and we will go home with him. Amen! On that day power, glory and fame here on Earth won’t matter, not unless it was all done to glorify God. To some Christians the thought of leaving this world and everything in it behind, makes them more than just a little bit uneasy. Thoughts of their possessions and how hard they worked to attain them begin playing in their minds and they hold on tightly to this life here on Earth, as if it were Heaven to live on Earth. One reason why we don’t grow in Christ the way we should and experience his full blessing in our lives, is that we refuse to accept that everything we have, everything we worked so hard for and claim to own, isn’t ours to begin with.

“And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” 1 John 2:17

As children of God we must be in the His word, pray without ceasing and make spending time with God a priority, or this world we live in will seduce us and we will be taken in by Satan’s lies. Slowly, we will grow further and further away from God and lack the necessary strength to make our way back. An emptiness so great, will begin to grow inside of us and nothing will come close to filling it. As we find ourselves growing further and further away from God and walking through a spiritual desert, we will try to fill that emptiness with all of the wrong things. We then begin experiencing a life in which nothing is ever enough and we are never content with what we have and if we are, it’s not for long. It’s such a vicious cycle and so hard to break on our own without God.

“The world appeals to a Christian through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And once the world takes over in one of these areas, a Christian will soon realize it. He will lose his enjoyment of the Father’s love and his desire to do the Father’s will. The Bible will become boring and prayer a difficult chore. Even Christian fellowship may seem empty and disappointing. It is not that there is something wrong with others, however-what’s wrong is the Christian’s worldly heart.” (Be Real, p. 74)

Dr. Warren Wiersbe explained it very well in the quote above. That being said, we mustn’t allow our hearts to become fixated with this world. We need to spend more time with God and doing the things God would have us do, instead of doing what pleases us and never including God in the equation. We must not seek to please ourselves and the desires of our hearts without first seeking out if those desires are within God’s will. We need to live our lives as a pleasant and pleasing aroma to God; after all, he did send his only son, Jesus Christ, to die for us on Calvary’s cruel cross. You might be thinking that this sounds like a tall order. You might be wondering how on Earth we are supposed to live this way. To some, living this way might not sound logical, practical, or even feasible.

God has entrusted us with much and as Christians we must not worry about how different we will look to those around us, instead we must strive to be different and be noticed. We want others to see Christ in us. Someone once said of me, that I brought Church with me every time I came to visit them. This was back in the beginning of my walk with Christ when I was energized and although I’m not much of an evangelizer, I was trying my best to bring this person the Good News. This person is someone I love and respect and at the time, the comment wasn’t meant as a complement, but I claimed it as one. What an honor that would be, if that is how I am remembered after I have left this world.

When we get to heaven it won’t matter how much money, or how many cars we had, or how big our house here on Earth was. The only thing that will matter is what we did with the Son of God and whether or not we followed the example Jesus Christ set for us in everything he did. If you aren’t putting God first and cling to the pleasures and everything this world has to offer as all there is, you need to ask God for forgiveness, ask him to change your heart and fill you with his love.