Tonight’s Bible study looked at 1 John 2:15-17, verses which talk about not loving the world. Clearly, here we are not talking about the world simply as God’s creation or as the people whom God loves (John 3:16), but as the world under the evil one’s control. All of us have followed the ways of the world before we knew Christ (Eph 2:1-3) and there is stark contrast between the Light that Jesus brings into the world and the general reaction of the world to that light. (see John 1:6-10; John 3:19, Eph 2:11-13)
When Jesus died on the cross, judgment was spoken on the devil (see John 12:31). His authority and rule in the world, causing mankind to follow patterns or routines which are not of God, has been destroyed by Jesus; we now no longer have to live under the devil’s authority and influence. The world lives in a way that is anti-Christ (see 1 John 4:1-3), but those in whom God’s Spirit lives have overcome all that is against God. (1 John 4:4) The whole world is under the control (or sway) of the evil one (1 John 5:19), but we are children of God in whom God’s word dwells and so we can live according to a different pattern, being transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom 12:2) so that we no longer love the world (with ‘the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life‘) but have love for God as our priority and overarching motivator. This is not to say that Christians should never have nice possessions, but we recognise that life does not consist in the abundance of our possessions (Luke 12:15) and keep ourselves from anything which comes before God. To do otherwise is to allow idols into our lives, which John warns against in 1 John 5:21, the Amplified version reminding us that an idol is ‘anything and everything that would occupy the place in your heart due to God, from any sort of substitute for Him that would take first place in your life.’ The challenge before us is to seek God above everything else and allow love for Him to squeeze out love for anything else that would distract us from the pure worship He deserves.