“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, because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever.” (1 John 2:15-17 NET)
“…For the present shape of this world is passing away.” (1 Cor 7:31 NET)
I was planning on writing about these two verses, and then earlier today, my friend called me to tell me that his 59 year old brother died while he was talking & joking with him on the phone. I knew his brother well, and I was in shock when I heard it. It was surreal to say the least.
I immediately began praying for my buddy and his family. I continued my conversation with our Father and my mind went to the fragility and futility of this life. As I mused and prayed, I thought about these two verses. I passionately prayed for HIS BODY saying, ”God, it is so stupid that we hold on to and love this world. Why Father…why to we put so much importance on things that we think matter instead of on what matters most….Jesus & His Kingdom!!!!
My dear friends, this world IS passing away; departing; ending…etc!!! I repeat, THIS WORLD IS PASSING AWAY!!! I truly pray that you understand the immense implications of that truth. (To get a clearer understanding of what I mean by ”this world” please read my post entitled, ”What in the world”.) Would you invest ALL your money put your hope in a business, a home, a relationship, a religion, stock market, etc. etc. etc. if you KNEW that it will fail the next day?
What are you putting your hope in? What are you passionately pursuing?
WHAT HAS CAPTIVATED YOUR HEART & YOUR ATTENTION?
1 John 2:15 above says, ”Do not love the world or the things in the world.” Why? Because you can NOT have two lovers; two masters!!! How can we love this world when ALL that is in the world is NOT of our Father!!!! This includes:
- Desires/lust of the flesh: unquenchable need to satisfy appetites (sexual, substances, behaviors, risk, food, success, to be entertained, etc.)
- Desires/lust of the eyes: an incessant longing for more; our consumerism mentality in this world feeds directly into this; not pretty enough; new/better things; more….more….more!
- Boastful pride of life: material possessions (longing for them); prestige; power; positions of influence & status like doctors, CEOs; glamour; popularity
The above lists includes the political systems, religion, entertainment, monetary systems, etc. What breaks and saddens my heart is seeing people who are naming the name of Jesus, but are looking and living like the world. How can we love this world when we are told in 1 Jn 3:8 that Jesus came “to destroy the works of teh devil.”
Satan & his demonic imps don’t even have to destroy us by this worldly system, because he just simply continues to deceive us into loving it more and more! How can we love this world when we are told in 1 Jn 3:8 that Jesus came “to destroy the works of the devil.”
I am begging all true followers of Jesus to REPENT!
We must turn our affections totally to our Lord Jesus and to “seek above all else His kingdom and righteousness”! Why not just say, ”DUH I’ve been pursuing & believing lies” (this is repentance), and then begin to fall in love with Jesus afresh!!!
May we stop being overcome by this world and understand that, “…everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world. This is the conquering power that has conquered the world: our faith.” (1 John 5:4 NET)
THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN DOES NOT LOVE ANYTHING ABOUT THIS WORLD!
The Normal Christian 
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