06/24/2021
We know that if we favor, or love, the world more than God that this is a sin because nothing is to come before God in our lives, but John writes that the result of loving the world at all causes us to be separated from God. So where do we stand in this regard? Do we love the creator, or do we love the creation instead… the Father, or what He has provided? If we love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, then there is no part of us left to love the world… we are consumed entirely by our love for Him.
“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.”
1 John 2:15 ESV
An all consuming love, that is what the Lord desires from us. There are four words used in scripture that are translated as love, the word John is using here is “Agape”, which means the type of love that God has for man, and man has for God. We aren’t talking about romantic love (Eros), love of family (Storge), or brotherly love (Philia). We are referring to divine love.
So to better understand the message John is communicating to us, it can help if we replace the word love with the action word worship in this verse (2 John 2:15), and read it like this…
“Do not worship the world or the things in the world. If anyone worships the world, the worship of the Father is not in him.”
Of course, worshiping is just a small part of what we do when we love God, but substituting at an act of Agape love helps clarify for us the difference here. So John is telling us not to love (or worship) the creation.
I read an interesting article written by a man who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, and is now a broadcaster and Bible scholar who wrote this…
“ the first verse of the Bible — “In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth” — contains the most radical idea in history. It stated, for the first time in history, that God created nature and is not part of nature.” - Dennis Prager
I included this quote because when people don’t believe in God then their next chosen refuge, or god, is science, or in other words nature. Just look around you today and you will see how true this is. If we love the world we are loving the creation either by placing it above, or in place of, God the creator.
“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.”
1 John 2:16 ESV
The Frist Museum in Nashville Tennessee displayed some of the works of Picasso, and people came from all around to stand in front of them and meditate on them. None of these folks actually knew the artist, so they befriended his work instead. I guess that is alright when it comes to art, and a love that is not divine, but the absolute truth in our faith is to know, and love (Agape), God, the creator. After all, we are part of what He has created. John tells us this in these few verses we have read today when he says that we are not to love the world. He is reiterating to us that we are to love only God the creator… the artist.
“And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.”
Matthew 22:37-38 ESV
So, do we love god so completely that there is no room left in us to love any further, and no separation between us? Let’s think on this today, and determine if we have been attempting to love, or worship, any portion of the world around us.
Prayer:
Father, thank you for loving us, and for teaching us through your Word, Jesus Christ, and by your Holy Spirit, to love (Agape) only you. Thank you for the other ways that we love Father, but thank you most for showing us the divine nature of the love you have for us, and which you expect for us to have for you. Hear us in praise, thanksgiving, and every form of worship, as we exercise our love for you. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who loves us above all creation, even though we are brothers and sisters with it; having been made by you… the same creator. Wash us clean Father with the blood of Jesus, and forgive us for every sinful venture we have made into the world. Perfect us in Him as we love you… not only above the world but in exclusion of the world, and all else. Find us worthy in our love Father, and seat us in Heaven at your table forevermore. Call us your friends, your children, and your beloved.
Rich Forbes