Happy New Year! I asked God what I should write. This is what He gave me.
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you” (1 John 2:15 NLT).
Misplaced Love
Why does John, the disciple of love, admonish us to “not love this world nor the things it offers?” Many people talk about “living their best life,” or pursuing all the so-called pleasures while young enough to do so. They seek the pleasures of sex, alcohol, partying into the wee hours of the morning, etc. They believe they are missing something if they don’t.
John speaks so plainly on this subject that no exegesis is even necessary. John states: “The world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world” (1 John 2:16 NLT).
Then John drives it home with Verse 17: “And this world is fading away, along with everything people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.”
The prince of this world is Satan, the devil! Jesus refers to him in this way in John 12:31, John 14:30, and John 16:11. His influence over much of the music, media, and entertainment industry is ubiquitous. The prince of this world is also a thief who seeks only to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). So he makes the world and the things it offers attractive and enticing. As God’s ministers, we have an obligation to expose the tricks of the devil and tell everyone that Jesus has come that we might “have life and have it to the full” (John 10:10 NIV). You simply cannot love the world and the Father too.
Focus Quote: “Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father” (1 John 2:15 MSG).
