Do Not Love The World (1 Jno. 2:15-17)

“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 of life – 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.” -1 Jno. 2:15-17

There was a time in my life when I thought “worldliness” was just about a few listed behaviors I was warned to avoid: Drinking, Immorality, Immodesty, Etc. My early teachers were right to warn me against these behaviors. I think they also warned me about worldliness in more general terms, I just didn’t listen well to that part. I get it now.

“The world” in the above passage is not limited to a few listed sins. It is our present existence here that can become our priority, the main thing, our obsession with only passing or occasional attention to relationship with God through Christ, now in eternally. 

John warns about this in terms of a romance that is illegitimate, going nowhere and those in such an attachment do not have the love of the Father in them.

In addition, “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”

Joel Beeke: “The goal of worldly people is to move forward rather than upward, to live horizontally rather than vertically. They seek after outward prosperity rather than holiness. They burst with selfish desires . . . If they do not deny God, they ignore and forget Him, or else they use Him only for their selfish ends…”

-web