Don't Love The World - And The Things In It Either

 Wednesday 1st September 2021

Happy new month!

This is the earliest I've posted after midnight (4PM) and this is the most normal time I've posted too so I'm very delighted right now.

September feels like January to me because there were fireworks outside my house this morning at midnight.

I actually hate September but this year I love it because I'm leaving work end of the month.

Speaking of work, I have work tomorrow. I'm doing overtime there for the first time since I've started, and so I have to sleep early. Best if I just do this now.

As I said in my Underrated Bible Scriptures page I posted earlier today, I would be here after I wake up.

I said and I quote:

I feel like this is clandestinely talking about loving the world, which is coincidentally what the next post on my posts page is going to be about. Just not now, when I wake up.

So here we are. Though ideally I don't normally make promises as to when my next update will be in case there are unforeseen circumstances. I did this time though because I knew I had free time.

Today's post is about...

Loving The World - or more specifically, not doing it.

In my next post I'll talk about why you shouldn't love it, just like how I talked about dangers of false prophets and why you should avoid them respectively. As in via two separate posts.

I have so much to say about this. I just updated my pages first as I hadn't done so in just over two weeks now.

Without further ado, let's begin.

So what does not loving the world mean?

It means not to get lost in materialism. It means that you should not let material things define you. This is because only God can truly make you satisfied at the end of the day.

Not just that but Luke 12:15 says that a man's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses.

Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against wanting to have more and more things. Life is not made up of how much a person has.” Luke 12:15, NIRV Version

I got the following spaced out paragraph from this website:

What Does 1 John 2:15 Mean?

Before defining what it means to not love the world, let us consider what it does not mean. 

Not loving the world does not mean we should not love the people in the world; God clearly commands us to love everyone in the world, including our enemies (Mark 12:31; John 15:12; Matthew 5:44). 

Not loving the world does not mean that we are not to enjoy or utilize the good gifts that God has given us in the world (James 1:17).

 God provides us with many good things to enjoy and we ought to receive them with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:4).

In the same Luke 12 chapter I just analysed, there was a story about a rich fool, from verses 13-21.

I don't know if I've talked about this on here before, but long story short, there was a rich man who just wanted more and more things, even though his land had already produced a very large crop.

Unbeknownst to him, he was going to die the very same day that he wanted to accumulate wealth for himself.

God figured this out though. He knew he was going to die the same day.

What I'm trying to say here is - there's no point of you being obsessed with material things. As we came to this world with nothing, we are also going to leave the world with nothing. You can find this in 1 Timothy 6:7.

Read these next few verses.

Ecclesiastes 2:26

A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.

Proverbs 13:22

A good person leaves what they own to their children and grandchildren.
    But a sinner’s wealth is stored up for those who do right.

Ecclesiastes 2:21 

A person might use wisdom, knowledge and skill to do their work. But then they have to leave everything they own to someone who hasn’t worked for it. That doesn’t have any meaning either. In fact, it isn’t fair.

As you may have realised, although if you haven't then that's okay too - these three verses aforementioned are talking about inheritance and what happens with it after you die.

Whilst leaving money behind for your children is good, don't love it at the same time. 

The love of money is the root of all evil - 1 Timothy 6:10.

It's better for you to not leave a lot of inheritance for your children and go to Heaven than the other way around. As in, you leaving a lot of inheritance for them and going to Hell.

Worst case scenario, some people out there that leave a lot of inheritance may have gone against the law in some way to get it, or in other words, they committed a crime.

That people don't find out about until after they've died.

I'm not saying that if you leave a lot of inheritance behind then you're going to Hell, or if you're rich then you didn't work for your money. That is far off from the truth and I don't want to be misquoted.

What I am saying though is just because someone is richer than you doesn't mean that they became rich through legitimate or legal ways.

Let me use an example. On My Block.

Sorry it was the first thing that came on my mind about how people who had a lot of money got in trouble for it.

Don't worry, I will use a Biblical example later. I  couldn't think of one before but I have now though. Ananias and Sapphira.

When I first watched it, I didn't really understand the plot. But now I do, after I've just finished re-watching it.

Without giving too much away, in On My Block Jamal, Monse, Cesar and Ruby had Rollerworld Money, which was money from this gang called the Santos gang. 

The leader of the gang, Lil Ricky had hid it somewhere along with his friends too.

Jamal had found the money and it had landed them into a lot of trouble. I'm not going to spoil anything, but it was bringing a lot of bad karma into their house because it was something that didn't actually belong to them.

See money doesn't always buy happiness. Materialism doesn't give you happiness either. And if it does, it's only temporary.

There is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is temporary, but joy is permanent.

Let's go to the Biblical example now, aka Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5:1-11.

They had made some money due to the land they had sold with Ananias keeping some to himself and Sapphira knowing this.

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, why did you let Satan fill your heart? He made you lie to the Holy Spirit. You have kept some of the money you received for the land. 

4 Didn’t the land belong to you before it was sold? After it was sold, you could have used the money as you wished. What made you think of doing such a thing? You haven’t lied just to people. You’ve also lied to God.”

Acts 5:3-4.

Sapphira didn't know that Ananias had died, and Peter came to her later to ask her if she had kept some of the money for herself.

Lying about it, Sapphira had said no, not realising that Peter already knew the answer before asking her the question. 

In essence, he was probably just testing her to see if she would tell the truth to him or not.

And it had literally cost her her life; she had been buried right next to her husband.

Here's one reason why you shouldn't love the world, from this website (hover over to visit)

I will do some more on my next post, or maybe even my next update for the Underrated Bible Scriptures.

The World and Its Lusts Will Pass (Away)

First, in 1 John 2 verse 17a he says, “And the world passes away, and the lust of it.”

Nobody buys stock in a company that is sure to go bankrupt. 

Nobody sets up house in a sinking ship. 

No reasonable person would lay up treasure where moth and rust destroy and thieves break in and steal, would they? The world is passing away! 

To set your heart on it is only asking for heartache and misery in the end.

That’s not all: Not only is the world passing away, but also the lusts of it. 

If you share the desires of the world, you will pass away. 

You will not only lose your treasure. You will lose your life. If you love the world, it will pass away and take you with it. “The world passes away and the lust of it.”

I watched a video that was sent to me on WhatsApp by someone in August that a Nigerian man flaunted his money online. Ever heard of the term catfishing? 

Yeah, it's when you pretend to be someone you're not online. Even flaunting how much money you really have.

This man I'm talking about in the video seemed to have at all. He had many houses, a car for every day of the week I believe, a private jet and his life was just ultimate luxury.

Until the truth was eventually revealed.

The millions of money, or naira (Nigerian currency) he had - it was from gambling. You know those fake and illegitimate click here to win 1 million pounds.. scams online, then you have to fill in your credit card details?

He did that a lot of times, it may have worked but it really cost him in the long run.

Why?

Because he had to return back everything luxurious he owned. Not just that but he inevitably got arrested for so much gambling.

As I close, let me just mention some Biblical verses as to not loving the world.

Colossians 3:2 - Think about things that are in heaven. Don’t think about things that are only on earth.

Jeremiah 45:5 So should you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. I will bring trouble on everyone,” announces the Lord. “But no matter where you go, I will let you escape with your life.” ’ ”

15 Do not love the world or anything in it. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 

16 Here is what people who belong to this world do. They try to satisfy what their sinful desires want to do. They long for what their sinful eyes look at. They take pride in what they have and what they do. All of this comes from the world. None of it comes from the Father. 

17 The world and its evil desires are passing away. But whoever does what God wants them to do lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17

As I conclude, I would just like to mention these lyrics to a Gospel song I know and love. It's the Walls Group - My Life. And the lyrics I want to add are...

Don't get too caught up on what you see on the gram
I will stay hype for you, 'cause that's just who I am

So yes. Don't be too caught up on what you see on Instagram, or any other social media in general.

Your social media presence doesn't define you and it also doesn't matter. 

At the end of the day, we all have an appointed time to die whether we like it or not and there's nothing we can do about it either. 

You won't take anything with you to the grave, and even if someone leaves something in your coffin, you won't know what it is. Because you'll unfortunately be dead.

The dead hears nothing, knows nothing and sees nothing.

Living forever wouldn't even be good anyway, I mean after you've fulfilled your purpose in life then there's nothing else for you to do.

On social media, do good things because you want to. Don't follow what's trending because that could change and like I said nothing can make you satisfied, only Jesus and God can.

In relation to the 1 John 2 verse above, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life and the lust of the flesh are all categories of things of the world, which is what I will explain in my next post.

Then I promise you it will be back to the Psalms 119 Commentary again.

Any other idea I have for a post will just be posted in my pages section.

Have a nice day, till next time.

Lola xx

Signing out dance