Reflecting

I was just reflecting on the verse of the day (April 5th), 1 John 2:15-17, “Do not love the world or anything in the world, if you love the world, love for the Father is not in you. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful people, the lust of their eyes and their boasting about what they have and do – comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.” I am trying to get a good mental picture of what that looks like in practical everyday life. Like you, I am guilty of saying things like: “I love that place, that food, that song, that color, those shoes, that outfit”, and so on. Do you really think that’s what John is forbidding here? Can we not enjoy and even find some satisfaction in any “earthly” things? Are we to be numb or dull to all that the world contains and only light up when the conversation turns “spiritual”? Or is it possible to enjoy people and places and food and entertainment and even shoes and outfits to the glory of God?

If we consider another scripture, 1 Cor. 10:31 “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God”, we may get a better perspective. So with that in mind, my image of “not loving anything in the world” has changed somewhat. What about yours? Perhaps what John is trying to teach us is that finding our satisfaction and enjoyment and even “love” for anything other that Christ will result in death, whereas, finding our pleasure and satisfaction and even “love” in anything — only to the point that it can glorify God is acceptable, even good. In other words, God desires that we “love Him with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength, and that we love our neighbor as ourselves. The key is that we not tamper with, interrupt, or find another recipient for the love and allegiance which belongs to God alone.

Cathy
Fort Myers Vineyard Christian Fellowship (A Fort Myers Church)

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