Right off, a direct warning: 15Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father.  

In the Bible the word “world” is used with different meanings (says Barnes, E-Sword). The world can refer to the physical world, the visible world. The world as God created it. 

We can and must love this world, because it’s God’s creation. It is precisely through this creation that God reveals himself to humanity and this is where we can get to know him. 

Secondly, the word “world” can refer to the people who live in it. Certainly, it’s not wrong to love the people of the earth, because they’re all creatures of God. Sometimes it is within our relationship or friendship with “worldly” people that they get to know God and perhaps even learn to love Him. Sometimes, however, there are people in the world who are only interested in earthly pleasures and dreams and things and have no interest in God and His will for mankind. 

We must be wary of this world and its desires. They focus solely on earthly pleasures, unaware of the eternal. 

Our focus should not be on what the world has to offer. It’s temporary and does not offer lifelong or eternal value. What the world offers is plastic and brings more destruction than salvation. 

Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to draw the line, because we do live in the world. The world is our playground. We live here. We fall in love here and get married and build a family and a future. 

When we hear about others’ plans around the fire or over tea, we’re tempted to join them. It sounds appealing, and they seem like nice people. 

However, we must remember that our time on Earth is brief, a mere stopover on our journey. The true destination lies in a completely different location.  

We may enjoy our time here on earth. For sure we can have fun playing in God’s creation. After all, He made it for us to enjoy. 

We shouldn’t mistake this life as the ultimate goal. Remember, we’re here to choose God or reject Him. We must choose God. 

We must not let the world distract us from our path to God. May we live in such a way that God always remains our focus. 

Scripture
1 John 2:15-17 

Reflection
Do you like the world?
Is the world distracting you?
Are you looking forward to arriving in heaven? 

Prayer
Father, I must confess that sometimes the world slows me down. Help me stay focused on Heaven and reach You one day. Amen.