Read 1 John 2:12–15
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 (1 John 2:16) 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?