Do Not Love the World (Part 1)
To love the world or not to love the world, that is the question
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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, because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world.
1 John 2:15-16 (NET)
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Harsh start to the day:
“If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in [them].”
Yet, the most famous verse in the Bible, John 3:16, talks about how much God loves the world.
So, what’s up with that?
Part of the struggle with this verse is the flexibility of the word “love” in English. You can love your dog, you can love ice cream, and you can love your spouse … but you don’t love ice cream like you love your spouse.
…at least, I hope you don’t.
Regardless, John here is talking about the highest level of love, that agape love as described in the Greek. It’s a deep, sacrificial love. The kind of “I’ll give anything” love.
The world (and all that is in it, i.e., worldly things) is unworthy of this kind of love from you.
And it won’t reciprocate.
But God gives us this deep, sacrificial love. And He reciprocates our agape-love for Him.
So, when Jesus tells us that God so loved the world, yes, He loved His creation. But more than that — so much more that He sent Jesus on a mission of rescue — God so loved people.
You.
And me.
So, the warning here from John is all about the misplacement of our love. We ought not to place our deep, sacrificial love upon the world, it should be reserved for God.
Tomorrow, I’ll get into the worldly things.
— Ricky Ketchum
Copyright © 2025 by Ricky Ketchum. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication prohibited.
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