"Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." (1 John 2:15) A word they say is enough for the wise, but how about a hundred words! "Love not the world" seems to be a recurring message in Jesus' teachings which floated down into the teachings of the apostles who apparently learnt firsthand from the Master. Jesus knew the dangers of accommodating the wrong people and the wrong things in our lives. We are repeatedly warned as Christians to have nothing to do with the world. This is because whosoever loves the world, then the love of the Father is not in him! .
God demands our love, total love and worship. The world also demands the same! And we cannot serve two masters. We cannot be loving God and the world at the same time. The Bible makes it clear that those two cannot co-exist! Friendship with the world is enmity with God. Nobody can love God and also love the world.
The world here does not refer to people or sinners or our neighbours. No, the world here refers to the evil system of this world; and from our yesterday's lesson, that evil system consists of: the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life.
The lust or desire of the eye represents the desire to possess what we see or to have those things which have visual appeal. This coveting of money, possessions, or other physical things is not from God, but from the world around us. Covetousness is the word for lust of the eyes, the desire to possess anything and everything that appeals visually to us. This is greed! Nobody consumed with the desire to acquire everything can love God, the Bible implies!
The lust or desire of the flesh is the desire to gratify our body. Many people are so addicted to taking care of their body that what ever God says comes secondary. Many people will leave a church if they are told to stop dressing a certain way, or doing certain things. The lust of the flesh is not just fornication and immorality. It includes anything that causes us to put our own self satisfaction above God! Listen to what the Bible says:
"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." (Gal 5:16-17)
I love the last sentence clause: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would! It means you cannot just do whatever you want. To serve and love God we must surrender our desires into His will...
to be continued