Read 1 John 2:12–15
Today’s Scripture: Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

John’s epistle warns us that there is a wrong kind of love, a love God hates. This is love for “the world.” The New Testament word world has at least three different meanings. It sometimes means the physical world, the earth.

It also means the human world, mankind. But the warning “Do not love the world” is not about the world of nature or the world of people. This “world” named here as our enemy is an invisible spiritual system opposed to God and Christ. “The world” in the Bible is Satan’s system for opposing the work of Christ on earth. It is the very opposite of what is godly (1John2:16) and holy and spiritual.

Believers are somewhat like scuba divers. The water is not our natural
habitat, for we are not equipped for life in (or under) it. When we go
underwater, we have to take special equipment with us so that we can
breathe.

Likewise, were it not for the Holy Spirit’s living within us and the
spiritual resources we have in prayer, Christian fellowship, and the Word,
we could never make it here on earth.

Something to Ponder
What are some things you have done during the past week to combat the
influence of worldliness in your life?