Read: 1 John 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. (vv. 15-16)

Is it a bad thing to love the world? Doesn’t God love the world so much that he gave his only Son to save us from our sins? These are a couple of questions that may come to mind when we read today’s Bible verses.

To answer the second question first, yes, God does love the world. Sending his Son Jesus to pay the price of our sins is certainly proof of that. And also yes, we should love the world as our Savior does. Indeed, our desire, like God’s, should be that none should perish, but that “all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

But there is another meaning of the “world” here in these verses to which John is referring. His reference in these verses is to the world as a place where sin has domain. John describes this as an anti-God place, where sinful cravings of people dominate and things like lust and boasting hold sway. No, John says, these things are not of God. They are what we often used to hear described as “worldly.” And these things, although they may seem very attractive, do not last.

Prayer:

Lord, help us to “set our minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Col. 3:2). Amen.

Author: John Koedyker

https://woh.org/