The Apostle John said,
Do not love the world or the things in the world. (1 John 2:15) 1
What makes something “worldly”? What was John talking about in this verse? He goes on in this passage to define “worldly” and give the reason that people love the world.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world — the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life — is not of the Father but is of the world. (1 John 2:15-16)
“Worldly” means of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. Years ago in ministry before I had an understanding of the finished work of Christ and my perspective was very sin conscious, I taught heavily on this subject, dividing sin into these three categories. I spent considerable time diagnosing the disease of sin and taught on the idea that there are three gods behind each category of sin: Asherah, the god of lust; Mammon, the god of greed; and Baal, the god of pride. Sin was inspired by this three-headed monster, but all we knew to do was to try to cleanse ourselves and rebuke the demons behind these sins. The NUMBER ONE solution I pushed in order to overcome the love of the world was loving God MORE because I thought the number one problem was that people just didn’t love God enough. I included myself in that reasoning. For years I thought God wasn’t pleased with me because I couldn’t love Him the way He wanted to be loved. It was logical to me that people would love the world less if they simply loved God more. But what really causes people to love the world? And what is the real solution?
If anyone loves the world, the love OF the Father is not in him. (1 John 2:15)
John says that people love the world because they don’t know the love OF the Father. They don’t know that God loves them! I used to believe and teach that people love the world because they don’t have enough love FOR the Father, but what John was saying is the total opposite.
When we indulge in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life, it’s because we don’t know (or we’ve forgotten) how much God loves us, and we are filling our holes of insecurity with the things that the world offers. We don’t believe that God loves us enough to bless every area of our lives, even those areas that seem hopeless.
The more we receive the grace and love of God, the less and less we will love the world and be controlled by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And we’ll love God and people more and more because of the love we have received from God.
We love because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)
It’s the love OF the Father that keeps us in peace and rest, not loving the world, but loving all of the people of the world with His love!
(from pages 74-75 of Unveiling Jesus)
Want more from Tricia Gunn? Check out excerpts from the Unveiling Jesus 20-part series!
Unveiling Jesus, by Tricia Gunn, is a verse by verse study of the pure gospel of grace. It’s an amazing journey of love, identity, and freedom in Christ.
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1 All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New King James Version. Scripture is taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.
