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Don't Love The World

                 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 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. (I John 2:15-16)

 

            Don’t love the world? John 3:16 says that God loved the world so much that He gave His Son. So if God loved the world, and we’re supposed to follow Him, shouldn’t we love the world, too? This might sound like a contradiction, but it’s not. The words used for love and world are the same, but they’re not used in the same way. Because of God’s love for the world, He gives. John says the problem is that when we love the world, it’s not about our giving ourselves for the sake of the world, but about taking what the world offers.

            It's not about our giving ourselves to or for the world. There are three problems with giving our lives for the world. First, if we give our lives, chances are that it will be for nothing. A dramatic end to our lives won’t make the world any better.

            Secondly, unlike God, we can’t take up our lives again. I’m not suggesting that we refuse to give up or lose our lives if that is the price of doing something right or good, but we need to avoid delusions of grandeur in which we become a savior of the world because that’s lust - a desire for power, fame, fortune, or glory. It’s trying to take from Jesus the position He holds, at a tiny portion of the price He paid.

               The third problem is the biggest. When God sent His Son to die so that others could live, the others in question didn’t come between God and His Son. When we love the world, the world generally comes between us and God. 

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