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OCTOBER: Walking with God

October 6

THE LOVE OF THE WORLD

Love not the world.
1 John 2:15

What is “the world” is this case? Now I think it is important that we should agree that he is not referring here to creation as such; he is not thinking of the mountains and the valleys and rivers, the streams and the sun and the moon and the stars. He does not mean the physical world. There are people who have even thought that to “love not the world, neither the things that are in the world” means to shut one’s eyes to the glory and beauty of nature.

But it does not mean that; neither does it mean the life of the world in general. It does not mean family relationships, though there are people who have misinterpreted it like that; they have often regarded marriage as sinful. Not once but very often in my ministerial life have I had to deal with nice, sincere Christian people who have solemnly believed, through misinterpreting a text like this, that Christian people should not marry. Their reason is that marriage involves certain relationships that they regard as sinful; they would regard the very gift of sex as being sinful in and of itself.

So “the world” does not mean creation; it does not mean family relationships; it is not the state; it does not mean engaging in business or a profession or all these things that are essential to life; it does not mean governments and authorities and powers, for all these have been ordained by God Himself. There is nothing so grievous as to misinterpret “the world” in some such terms as that.

What, then, does it mean? Clearly the very text and the whole teaching of the Bible shows that it must mean the organization and the mind and the outlook of mankind as it ignores God and does not recognize Him and as it lives a life independent of Him, a life that is based upon this world and this life only. It is the whole outlook upon life that is exclusive of God.

A Thought to Ponder
“The world” ignores God and lives a life independent of Him, a life that is based upon this world and this life only.

From Walking with God, pp. 84-85.



Today’s devo is taken from Walking with God Day by Day © 2003 by Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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Walking with God Archive

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