What the website says
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The first incentive John gives is that “if anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him” (verse 15b).
In other words, the reason you shouldn’t love the world is that you can’t love the world and God at the same time. Love for the world pushes out love for God, and love for God pushes out love for the world.
As Jesus said, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money” (Matthew 6:24). So don’t love the world, because that would put you in the class with the God-haters whether you think you are or not. “If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.” That’s the first reason John gives not to love the world.
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The website additionally makes some references to the verse following that, aka verse sixteen, which says:
All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of the Father but is of the world. - 1 John 2:16
But if all I did today was to just copy what the website said then that doesn't do this post much justice, does it?
You might as well just read the website I hyperlinked earlier, which was where I got all this information from anyway.
Let's quickly look at what the lust of the eyes, the pride of life and the lust of the flesh are before I continue.
The lust of the flesh can include things such as having an intense desire for food, as in constantly. It can additionally mean to desire anything to do with your senses. From This Website, it says that The “lust of the flesh” is all desires centred in your nature without regard to the will of God. It is that which constantly fights against the things of God in your life. The lust of the flesh is contrary to the desire to do the will of God.
If you would like a simpler definition, the lust of flesh is simply sexual desires, aka libido.
In the meantime, lust of the eyes is to have what we see or is to have something which is visually appealing to us. People can fall in this category, as in lustfully looking at someone but I think that is more to do with the lust of the flesh than the eyes.
Lust of the eyes is mainly to do with money.
And whilst I do wish that money falls on you, as in you have it abundantly - at the same time you do have to realise that there is more to life than money.
Not just that but money doesn't buy happiness.
I'll admit that sometimes I have been very careless with money, thankfully not lately though. And I don't think there can't be a time where you haven't been careless with money.If you've never been careless with money in your life then congrats, I truly respect you. Wanting (a lot of) money isn't the only thing that falls under lust of the eyes though. And I'll get back to money in a sec.
Coveting what someone else has can fall under this category as well.
Proverbs 14:30; "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones." Don't forget this scripture. All scriptures are important, whether you realise it or not.
But let me ask you something.
How do you know that the person that has what you want is really happy with what they have that you want?
Have you asked them?
I'm just tripping, you don't have to ask them, especially if you don't know them or you're not close to them... or you're not comfortable asking. Anything.
Let me give you a scenario. Person A, a boy, let's call him Destiny and Person B, a girl, let's call her Zariah.
I've heard of some guys out there called Destiny 👀😁. I would have just called them Person A and B but I always leave them nameless. I wanted to try something different for once.
Destiny is extremely popular but he doesn't like it. Zariah has always wanted to be popular. They're coincidentally next door neighbours but they don't really talk, until Zariah talks to Destiny about everything, when she, for example sees him coming home from school.
Think of it as a script, ish.
Zariah: Destiny, can I ask you something?
Destiny: *reluctantly* I'm not in the mood really, but yeah, I guess, what's up?
Zariah: What do you mean you're not in the mood? Are you okay?
*Destiny is silent. He is thinking about whether he should tell Zariah his problems or not, especially how he doesn't really know her. After a long time, he makes up his mind.*
Destiny: I'm just tired of people using me.
Zariah: *confused* In what way?
Destiny: I'm extremely popular but it just seems as though all of my so called *in air quotes* "friends" are superficial. They're only using me to get something from me. Or to be popular themselves. Everyone wants me to do something for them, but no one really stops to ask me how my day has been. I can't tell my real friends, if any, from the fake ones. I felt bad for this girl who genuinely wanted to be my friend but I unintentionally overlooked her due to everyone else treating her badly.
*continued* I constantly have to pretend to be happy even though I might not be on the inside. I'm not saying I'm ungrateful, and I'm not saying that popularity is bad -- it's just that sometimes I wish I had a normal life. Being popular is not my destiny and I don't want it to be anymore. It was fun while it lasted but now I am just done.
And then some...
Long story short, Destiny is ranting to Zariah about his problems with being popular, which really makes Zariah think. All this time she wanted to be that way but now she's not so sure.
The grass isn't always greener on the other side. That's why you shouldn't really be envying what someone else has, especially online. Who says that, for instance, that a fancy new car someone has is even theirs?
Maybe it's their parents', and shortly after, they got yelled at by them to stop flaunting their car online, as well as pretending as if it was theirs.
Someone could be less happy with what they have that you want than before they had it. This was a wake up call for me too, and I deliberately used the popularity example because I have been chasing it online on a specific platform a lot this week.
Luckily, I haven't actually acted on my desires to be well known online or will act on it because God said a straight up no anyway. Besides the popular people might not even be happy.
I'm not against popularity, I'm sure it's great, this was just an example.
I said that I would go back to money and I'm going to do that now before I move on to the next point.
What if I want a lot of money for a good purpose? Is that lust of the flesh?
It depends how badly you want it and what you are going to do to get it.
It also depends what you need the money for.
But if you can wait for the money to come to you and if it is genuinely for a good cause then I guess it's not lust of the flesh at all. If receiving money makes you feel this way:
(I love The Cosby Show so so much, I'm watching it right now, one of the best sitcoms out there.
It genuinely can't be duplicated)
Then the person who gave you the money, The Lord, should make you feel like dancing too.
On to the next point!
The website says and I copy and paste:
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First, in 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.”
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I just remembered that I forgot to talk about what the pride of life is in the previous point, I'll do it here though because the first point is pretty long already.
I am happy to announce that if you don't love the world, then you are truly a child of God.
(Adonai by Castro and Sarkodie)
Not just that but read John 12:25, which says:
Those who love their life in this world will lose it. Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity.
Some people may read this out of context, in the sense that they might think that if they don't care about anything in life then they will be alive for a long time.
Indirectly, this verse is saying that if you don't love the things of the world then your life will be saved, and if you do then that is normally when you will lose it.
Not always as God can give you mercy, or maybe it's just not your time to die yet. Not loving the world does not mean not loving people. You should always love them regardless of who they are.
Matthew 5:44 says love your enemies as yourself.
Let me quickly talk about what the pride of life is. It actually links to the extemporaneous popularity scene I did with Destiny and Zariah earlier. That most definitely wasn't planned - I even had trouble thinking of some nice names (that wasn't the name of anyone I know personally).
The third phrase, “the pride of life,” describes the arrogant spirit of self-sufficiency. It expresses the desire for recognition, applause, status, and advantage in life. The phrase describes the pride in what life can offer you.
When the Title says that the World and its Lust will pass, it also means the Pride of Life. Don't think that the pride of life isn't a part of this because it is.
Say a person really wants the pride of life, and they get it: they become really famous.
As soon as they die, this whole thing passes away and may subsequently be given to someone who may or may not have worked for it. This is indirectly talked about in Ecclesiastes 2:21, which you can find below.
Some people work wisely with knowledge and skill, then must leave the fruit of their efforts to someone who hasn’t worked for it. This, too, is meaningless, a great tragedy.
They may not even have worked wisely for anything. They may have just had a lot of things. But like I said, as soon as you're gone, your possessions are instantly given to someone else, the person depending on what you wrote in your will or not. Assuming you wrote one.
You see, when someone is famous but then they die, they're going to stay famous for a while because they died then they're normally forgotten.
On the other hand, some people will always be well known even well after their death, for example, I don't know, Michael Jackson, Tupac maybe and my personal favourite: Aaliyah.
Jesus was still well known after his death and he is my personal favourite too, however in this scenario I'm talking about people that have died and stayed that way.
But yes, all in all, don't love the world as we all have an appointed time to leave this Earth (Ecclesiastes 3:1) and when we do, none of the worldly things we may or may not obsess over will really matter anymore.
If You Do the Will of the Father, You Will Live Forever
The website says
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Second, in verse 17b John says, “But he who does the will of God abides forever.” The opposite of loving the world is not only loving the Father (verse 15), but also doing the will of the Father (verse 17).
And that connection is not hard to understand. Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). John said in 1 John 5:3, “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.” So loving the Father in verse 15 and doing the will of God in verse 17 are not really separate things.
If you love God, you will love what he wills. It is empty talk to say I love God but I don’t love what God loves. So John is saying in verse 17, “If you love the world, you will perish with the world, but if you don’t love the world but love God, you will do his will and live with him forever.”
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Let me talk about the part that says "it is empty talk to say 'I love God, but I don't love what God loves."
You know some people out there, and I guess I was like this too before I became close to God (and way before this website existed) - they may adapt the Bible based on what they want to hear.
Not literally, but mentally, for example, let's look at 1 Peter 2:18, which says:
Servants, be subject to your masters with all respect, not only to the good and gentle but also to the unjust.
An obedient person will obey that word for word, but someone else might be thinking:
Nah, I'll only treat my master with respect if they respect me. If they don't like me then I will disrespect them. Why should I be good to the unjust? No way.
Don't be like this - listen to what the Bible says, word for word. Don't change anything to fit your own needs.
It's like obeying 7 of the commandments and ignoring 3 because "you don't like them". Do you really think you'll end up in Heaven that way? Of course not, unless you truly repent.
I too am trying to do the will of the father, as in, all the time, and University has really helped me with that. Hopefully, when I get older or in the future, doing it will be easier - but let's start now.
Let's all start now.
One Way of Salvation
The website says:
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John, when he comes to write his letter, can take “love for God” and “trust in Christ” and treat them as one way of salvation. Look how he does so in 5:3–4: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.”
In other words, it is our love for God that overcomes the obstacles of disobedience and makes the commandments of God a joy rather than a burden. “Jacob served seven years for Rachel, and they seemed to him but a few days because of the love he had for her” (Genesis 29:20). Love for God makes his service a joy and overcomes the forces of disobedience.
But then look at verse 4. Here he says the same thing but speaks of faith instead of love. “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.” It is faith that overcomes the world — it is faith that conquers disobedience and renders the commandments of God a joy rather than a burden.
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The only way is Up with God, however the only way is down with the world - most of the time anyway.
I can't remember where I heard the following sentence from, or when even but I know it was this month and year. Anyway, someone said:
The world will always try to take you away from God.
And it is so so true.
For example, let's say Person C, Priscilla has prayer at 7PM, or she wants to pray at seven.
But wait.
Priscilla totally forgot that a brand new season of her favourite show is coming up at that time, and she would have forgotten completely about it had her phone not reminded her two minutes before she was supposed to pray.
Now Priscilla is battling with herself on whether or not she should watch it. Even worse, it's a limited series on Netflix and it's going away in two weeks. She doesn't have enough time to watch everything after today.
So she promises herself one episode, leading to two, then three. Eventually, she has finished the entire season. Goodness knows where the time went but it's gone and now Priscilla knows she's seriously backslidden.
I wasn't indirecting anyone and using a pseudonym, or trying to make anyone feel guilty - this was just an example.
When distractions and temptations come up, know that the devil has caused it and he didn't cause it by accident. He wants to test your faith to see how much you're truly a child of God.
But don't forget 1 Peter 5:8, which says
Be watchful and control yourselves. Your enemy the devil is like a roaring lion. He prowls around looking for someone to swallow up.
There is only one way of salvation like the subheading suggests and it's surely not the devil's way!
Just ignore the devil, by telling him to get deep behind you. Don't worry, we are far better than the devil.
And last but not least...
Love for God and Love for the World Cannot Coexist
The website says
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According to 1 John 2:15, if your love for God is cool this morning, it’s because love for the world has begun to take over your heart and choke your love for God. The love of the world and the love of the Father cannot coexist. And every heart loves something. The very essence of our nature is desire.
There is nobody in this room who doesn’t want something. At the center of our heart is a spring of longing. But that’s an awkward image, isn’t it?
A longing is a craving, a desire, a want, a need.
But these aren’t very well described as a spring. A spring of needs is a contradiction in terms.
Springs bubble up; needs suck in. A longing is more like a drain — or a vacuum. At the center of our heart is a sucking drain — like at the bottom of a swimming pool. We are endlessly thirsty. But we can’t suck water and air at the same time.
If you try to satisfy your longing by sucking in the air of the world, you will not be able to drink the water of heaven. And eventually, your motor will burn up because you were made to pump the water of God, not the air of the world.
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This is actually for me the most as I do unintentionally try to balance the two. Especially recently.
And I do feel like giving the things of the world up completely will be difficult as we will hopefully be alive on this Earth for a long time, but I know with God, I will overcome.
It's not supposed to be easy, it's a gradual process and I pray that we will progressively start to give up the things of the world today amen.
That's all for today, sorry I got a bit tired towards the end.
It took me just over 2 hours to write the whole post, and it normally does with no distractions. Hope you enjoyed and I shall see you next time.
Bye and hope you were blessed, Lola
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