You cannot love God and love the world at the same time. Every time we think we can stand firmly on both sides of the fence, we find ourselves split up the middle in a spiritual wedgy. Good luck with that. It’s time to wrestle worldliness to the ground, folks…
15 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. 16 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 are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.
1John 2:15-17 NLT
It is easy to get caught up in the world and to love it and its things. Living in the world we are surrounded by media which is so intense, reinforcing our connection to the things which are important to this world. Very rarely do those priorities and values align with the character and values of God.
In older translations of the Bible, the triplet of worldliness is “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” Some have considered that perhaps these three areas sum up all elements of sin. They are not from the Father, of that we can be sure.
These are the offers of the world. They appeal to physical desire. They appeal to the eyes and our desires for what we want. They appeal to our ego and its pride, offering to fulfill ambition and possession.
At one end of the spectrum, when we are totally centred on these things, we are as far from God as we can get. The love of the Father is miles away from this place. The darkness of evil and its objectives overtakes everything there. Kill or be killed. Dog eat dog. Winner takes all.
John wrote this 2,000 years ago and still we are here, in a similar pressure cooker of worldliness. He said, “this world is fading away,” but it’s still here. A thousand years are but a day in God’s timeline, so it is important to hear this message afresh. This race will come to an end. The eternal life beyond is what matters.
And those who are focused on living a life that pleases God will have their day in eternity. So today, wrestle worldliness to the ground and love God and your neighbour…
Amen.
Marc Kinna
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