Why We Shouldn’t Love the World

In the post Do Not Love the World, it was submitted that to value any person or thing more than God is to love that person or thing more than God. 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us to “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” Is there anyone or anything that you value more than God? How would you know? The Word says in 1 John 2:3-4 “³ We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. ⁴ Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.”John 3:19 says, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” John 12:25 says,”Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

We were told Do Not Love the World, but it was not focused on Why We Shouldn’t Love the World. The passage says

“¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” I John 2:15-17

The obvious is that we should love God more than anyone or anything, but to accentuate and personalize it, God had John to communicate the personal impact of loving the world more than loving God. The text is absolutely lucid – The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Loving the world is tantamount to living for the moment. Almost all sensible people understand that living for the moment is a short-term and short-sighted view of life. It leads us in the wrong direction every time when contrasted with a more enduring end. In regards to the end, the text says The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. Living for the world results in an emptiness. Why? The world and its desires pass away. To substantiate what verse 17 conveys, 1 Corinthians 7:31 tells us that “For this world in its present form is passing away.” Conversely, “whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Other than God and his celestial beings, there are two things that are eternal: The Word of God and the souls of man. Our choice will dictate whether we spend eternity in life or in death. Following Christ results in eternal life. Rejecting Christ results in eternal death. Regret is a powerful emotion. Our lives abound with ones who have sought redemption from the wrong choices. Let us learn from those and not repeat the matter in our lives. This is Why We Shouldn’t Love the World.

 

Do Not Love the World

John, the disciple, wrote “¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever” I John 2:15-17

He wrote that in contrast to the command to love one’s brother and sister. In that context, John was calling the followers of Jesus to love fellow followers of Jesus. John used loved as a litmus test of the authenticity of the follower’s faith in Jesus Christ. If one loved the world more than one who followed Jesus, the question of one’s faith in Christ was raised.

In this passage, world (kosmos) is referred to the ungodly multitude; the whole mass of men alienated from God, and therefore hostile to the cause of Christ. Listen to how Jesus describes the world in John 3:19 which says, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”

As followers of Jesus, we are called to ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12) As our greatest priority, we are not called to love the world i.e. the ungodly. Furthermore, I John 2:15-17 tells us to expand our definition of the world to anything in the world.

The word for love in these verses is agapaō. Vines Expository Dictionary tells us that “Christian love has God for its primary object, and expresses itself first of all in implicit obedience to His commandments, Jhn 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10; 1Jo 2:5; 5:3; 2Jo 1:6. Self-will, that is, self-pleasing, is the negation of love to God. Consequently, love for the world or anything in it that rivals one’s love for God is not acceptable in the eyes of God. It is idolatry which we know He forbids going all the way back to Exodus 20:3-5.  Of people, we are not to welcome, to entertain, to be fond of, to love dearly more than God. Of things, we are not to be well pleased, to be contented at or with a thing more than God.

To value any person or thing more than God is to love that person or thing more than God. 2 Corinthians 13:5 tells us to “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” Is there anyone or anything that you value more than God? How would you know? The Word says in 1 John 2:3-4 “³ We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. ⁴ Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.”John 3:19 says, “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.” John 12:25 says,”Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

Do Not Love the World. The consequences of disobeying God are grave in this life and the life to come. Look at your life. Identify anyone or anything that rivals God preeminence in your life. Look, and God will tell you what is rivaling His Lordship in your life.