Daily Devotional #15 (1 John 2:15-17)

In 1 John 2:15-29, John warns us of three enemies to our fellowship with the Lord. Today, we will consider the first, which is the world.

In 1 John 2:15-17, we read, 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Note that John defines the world in three parts: 1) the lust of the flesh, 2) the lust of the eyes, and 3) the pride of life.

God warns us against the world because it impairs our proper understanding of love. We think that the world is outside of us, yet this passage clearly states that the world is inside us. Thus, we naturally love ourselves or our flesh the most. The heart of the matter is a matter of the heart. You see, it is out of the heart that our issues flow. Therefore, we must be careful what we give our hearts to, because what we give our heart to is what we will love and worship. I find it very instructive that the first time the word "worship" appears in the Bible is the same context where the word "love" first appears (see Genesis 22).

The flesh is our sinful nature, the sinful tendencies within each of us. The flesh always seeks pleasure apart from the perimeters which God has given us. The word used for "lust" in this passage is epithumia, which means strong desires. In this context, desires which are contrary to the Spirit.

In addition, the world is defined by John as the lust of the eyes. The lust of the eyes, like that of the flesh goes beyond simple needs. Simply put, the lust of the eyes is the desire to possess what we see or to have those things which have visual appeal. The sin of coveting is a prime example of the result of giving in to the lust of the eyes. To covet means to have a yearning or a strong desire to have something that rightfully belongs to someone else.

Finally, the third definition of the world in 1 John 2:15-17 is the pride of life. The first two definitions of the world had to do with satisfying ourselves, not as God intended us to be satisfied. The pride of life, however, cannot exist except as it relates to others. It seeks to create a sense of envy, rivalry, and burning jealousy in the hearts of others and gives us pleasure in doing this to them. It is the desire to outshine or to out rank someone else. In Isaiah 14, Lucifer said, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High”. In Daniel 4, we read of the plight of the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar who went from I, to me, to my, to MOO. King Nebuchadnezzar resisting the will of the God of the Bible to the point of being humbled to the point of behaving like a cow grazing on the grass of the land.

Whereas the world affects our response to the love of God in 1 John 2:15, according to 1 John 2:17, the world affects our response to the will of God. Doing the will of God is a joy to those who abide in the love of God.

 This is why John is warning us of this first enemy of our fellowship with God. It harms us when we ignore God's definition of things. Martin Luther said it well, "I have held many things in my hands and I have lost them all. But the things I have placed in God's hands I still possess." It is kind of like toothpaste, the tighter we squeeze, the less we have."You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore." (Psalm 16:11)