“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” I John 2:15.

The Greek word for world is cosmos, in this case it means the worldly system which excludes God, and was set up by Satan and is lead by him.

“…and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” I John 5:19b.

So to love the world is to love the things of the enemy of our soul; things he is using against us to destroy our lives. We are, after all, travelers passing through, not permanent citizens.

“These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.” Hebrews 11:13-16.

The idea of love in this passage should be carefully understood. A love for the world would be a lust for the things of this world, power, riches, fame, or things that distract the mind such as sex, sports, and gambling, obsessive things that blind men to the call of God and salvation in Christ.

On the other hand a new car is not a bad thing, saving up for a home is practical, giving your family a stable environment to grow in.

It does not hurt to have steak occasionally; nice clothes are often a necessity, though a hundred dollars for a pair of jeans is a bit excessive.

God gave us all things to richly enjoy; but the rule is this, God gave us things to use and people to love, but when we begin to love things and use people, we sin.

Here is a good example of this shift in focus. Years ago, a Christian friend got into sales, I forget what, but he said that in time, he realized that he was looking at everyone he met as a potential new customer. The sale had become more important than the soul of folks he met every day.

Now if you are a shoe salesman in a store, your focus should be on selling shoes, you are being paid to sell shoes, not preach the gospel to customers.

Common sense should always prevail; people go to a shoe store to buy shoes. If they want to learn about God, they go to a Bible study, or church, or to a Christian friend.

If you want to reach people for Christ there are dozens of ways to serve Him, however robbing your employer by doing it on his time is wrong.

I might add that it is also wrong to stand around talking to other employees when you should be working, this too is theft; God will always provide an opportunity to talk to your coworkers without sinning.

Having certain things does not mean that you love the world, that is, not until they begin to fill our lives.

For instance, a person may buy a new car and they will say, “Man, I love my new car, it is crazy fast, and still gets 30 miles to the gallon, and rides like a dream!”

Everybody gets a little whacked when they get something nice. The new car, for instance gets washed and waxed and talked about for a while, but soon it gets a little dirty with a few shopping cart dings and this wonderful machine becomes what it was purchased for, nice, fun reliable transportation.

A right focus will always tell us that there is something more wonderful than all of these things, a relationship with the Creator of everything.

This love of the world then is an attachment to the world and its system, which is in actuality in opposition to Him and designed as a rival to God.

The Lord tells us in Matthew six.

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” Matthew 6:24.

No matter how much I want to believe that you can serve God and riches, I have found that having the things I love does not help me to serve God better.

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition.” I Timothy 6:6-9.

“Let your conduct be without covetousness, and be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” Hebrews 13:5-6.

“For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world.” I John 2:16.

These three venues are the ways in which Satan tempts us to sin, the lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. The last one, the pride of life, is rendered the “boastful pride of life” in the New American Standard Version.

These are the exact same ways and in the same order in which Eve was tempted in the Garden of Eden; and the same ways and order in which Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, see Matthew 4:1-11.

Here we have Satan tempting Eve in Genesis 3:5, notice the order in which she is tempted and what it was that drew her to it in verse 6; the whole incident is in Genesis 3:1-7.

“For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:5-6.

“…the lust of the flesh”, has, in another place, been translated, “a lust of the body”, which is good because the lust of the flesh has to do essentially with sensuality.

It is expanded upon in the Amplified New Testament as, a “craving for sensual gratification”. Eve saw that it was, “…good for food”, it became within her a sensual craving to eat.

Bear in mind that when she ate, Eve was surrounded by food, fruit trees and plants; Eve was not starving, nor perhaps even hungry.

This lust to fulfill the desires of the flesh can include such things as fornication, adultery, incest, rape, or sodomy, things that feel good to the user.

However it can also include intemperate things such as, drunkenness, gluttony, orgies; things that can be touched or tasted, palpable things that whether evil or not, appeal to the flesh.

“…the lust of the eyes”, this is a visual door, Eve saw that, “it was pleasant to the eyes”, lascivious looks, eyes full of adultery, the sin of covetousness.

The Amplified New Testament elaborates on this as the, “greedy longings of the mind”.

The desire of visible things or the sinful pleasure of beholding such things; this is not just the pleasure of voyeurism, as in a Peeping Tom, or an addiction to pornography, it is a desire for your neighbor’s house, car, or wife.

It can be looking at the mansions of the rich and coveting them. These things do not need to be had; just fulfilling the lust of seeing them may be enough. However we have seen in the case of Eve that the seeing led to her doing.

“…the pride of life”, once again, the Amplified New Testament nails this down quite well as the, “assurance in one’s own resources or in the stability of earthly things”.

Another rendering calls it the “pride of the age”, meaning, whatever is valued or prestigious in the age or time period you are living in.

This might also be expanded to include the society you are living in, whether it is a village in South America, in darkest Africa, Eastern Asia, Europe, or America. The things which are prestigious or make us rich differ greatly from region to region.

The primary fault with the pride of life is that it is a desire or condition of being independent of God. This is one of the things that drew Eve to partake of the fruit, “…a tree desirable to make one wise”.

I do not, for a moment think that Eve was being malicious, Scripture tells us that she was deceived, but perhaps her error was that she wanted a little knowledge of her own so that she would not have to run to God all the time to ask Him questions.

Ultimately though, this is what the pride of life is about, independence from God. The problem with independence is that, if you do not turn to God, how will you know the reality of the world around you?

“Truth is all things as they really are as revealed by God.”

Apart from God there is only the devil’s lie. Millions of books have been written on philosophy, self-help, witchcraft, voodoo, and the gods from Hinduism to Islam; for the most part, all conflict, what is truth?

“You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.” John 8:44.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.” Romans 1:18-19.

In the last days men will be, “…always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” II Timothy 3:7.

Men become independent of God through riches; money is the answer to everything and with it comes extreme power. This is great until the economy collapses, a natural disaster occurs, or a catastrophic illness comes upon a loved one.

Yet, even then, the rich send for the best physicians, or they rebuild after a disaster.

Often in an economic disaster, the rich just get richer. In one South American country years ago such a thing happened and the daily inflation rate went through the roof. The poor had to scramble, what bought a loaf of bread yesterday would not buy a biscuit today, and tomorrow would have doubled again.

The rich did not even notice it; their money was tied to an interest rate that went up with the inflation. Who needs God when you have money?

The pride of life is, ambition, honor, titles: duke, baron, count, bishop, Pharisee, high priest, imam, your worship, your ladyship, my lord, chief executive officer, president, professor, your holiness, most reverent reverend, senator, or congressman, to name a few.

Men and women would, lie, cheat, steal, and kill for these titles, and have.

“And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” I John 2:17.

These three verses 1 John 2:15-17, are written to anyone who has ears to hear them, but in this chapter they are specifically written to the Christian children, the young men and to the fathers mentioned in verses 12-14 before it.

It is written to the young men to encourage them not to lose their focus on the prize.

Too often the ambitions of this world cloud the minds of Christians and they start to see success in life as the world system defines it, and forget that our purpose is to be ambassadors for Christ and His witnesses in the world.

This does not mean that we are not to live productively and use and enjoy the things God has put here for our blessing. After all when the Lord led Israel into the Promised Land they were instructed to divide it up and enjoy a land He described as one, flowing with milk and honey.

Still they were expected to work and be a light to the heathen countries around them who would then see the difference between serving the living God and demon gods.

The Christian today is intended to serve as the same kind of example, drawing the unsaved to Christ and teaching them the real truth about the world around them.

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven.” Matthew 5:13-16.

It is written to the fathers for the same reasons, however many of the fathers are much older and their time here on earth is running out.

The reminder here is to keep their eyes focused on the prize which is so much nearer now, and not to fall into the temptation to have one last fling with the world and its pleasures.

It is important too, for fathers not to become embittered because things did not always come out the way they expected.

We are in Christ and we have Christ as a constant companion and counselor, yet we often insist on dragging along a load of things that happened to us when we were young or over the years.

We then become weary because of these things or that our spouse is unsaved or has become a burden because of their own burdens from abuse, neglect or disease.

An incident happened in North Korea during one of the many persecutions that the atheistic communist government perpetrated against the Christians. It goes something like this.

A number of Christian families were rounded up and herded into a trench, and as they stood there waiting for a bulldozer to cover them with dirt to smother them one father lost it, and as he was about to cry out in anger, his wife turned to him and said, “Hush, my husband, we are almost there, hold your peace.”

“Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 3:12-14.

The World Is Passing Away, 1 John 2:15-17 taken from godisrevealed.com

Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.