"I love________"

How would you or I complete that sentence?  "I love ______".  This is an inescapable thought when reading 1 John 2, or at least it should be.

John has taken great effort to reaffirm Jesus' deity, and then describes the light vs darkness aspect of the Christian walk.  We are in the Light, and as such, it should be evident, correct?  He says in 1 John 2:9 "The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now."  We say we walk in the Light, and yet we (yes, we all can do this) treat our fellow believers in a way that puts darkness on display.  So the point is made to maintain a testimony that is consistent with that Light.

And then John delves into a passage of Scripture that should be mounted on every mantle in every home, posted on billboards, shouted from the mountaintops.  "Do not love the world nor the things in the world." (v. 15)  My take on this passage is this:  we cannot avoid what this world has to offer, what we need from this world, and indeed, God gave us this world to enjoy and to use as a means to fellowship with and glorify Him.  Romans 1:25 is clear; mankind has traded the worship of our Creator for the worship of the creation, "...worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever."  In short, people love this world instead of loving God, and that is the point of John's command.

We have to live in this world, and we are to impact those around us by pointing them to an eternal future that is not of this world.  Indeed, we are simply passing through, and if you look at the end of that paragraph, John says "The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."  Why would we ever want to give our primary love to something that is passing away, things so temporary?

I cannot personally see using this verse merely as a command to identify worldly "things".  If it is here, on this planet, it is worldly.  Creation by definition is worldly, and it has a divine purpose.  We are to avoid evil (1 Thess. 5:22), and we are to NOT love this world or its things (1 John 2:15).   Skim through the Bible, and see how often God gives people a blessing of land, food, protection, etc. and they turn whatever is given to them into an object of worship.  So, let's see, I have a worldly vocation to allow me to obtain some worldly currency, I drive a worldly vehicle...you get the point.  If I love ANY of those things, I become an idolater.

The strong Christian will balance out life's tasks and properly order his/her priorities.  It takes great effort, and yet, when we devote our love to the proper Source of our very existence, and push all this world has to offer in a subservient position, we are not focused on what is passing away, but what is yet to come!

Holding fast to the Name of our Creator.