This week, we have worked on memorizing 1 John 2:15-17:It’s that second sentence that has stuck in my mind all week long. I’ve been marinating in it for the last 7 days. I understand the command to not love the world or the things in the world at the beginning of the passage. But then comes the sweeping, overwhelming, all encompassing reality that if I love the world, the love of the Father is not in me.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. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
John not saying that when I love the world, I am crowding the love of the Father into the corner. He is saying that when I love the world, the love of the Father is not even present!
In these few verses, John talks about the love of the world and the love of the Father. And he doesn’t do so in a “both/and” kind of way, but an “either/or” way.
It’s impossible to love the world and have the love of God in us.
The world is passing away. Don’t love the world. Love God.
Pastor Todd
P.S. Check out Worldliness by C.J. Mahaney. It’s a good, quick, helpful, and timely read for the today's follower of Christ in America.
