Do not love the world

I am going to look at a passage of scripture that many people may not pay attention to. It can be easily understood but somewhat harder to obey.

1 John 2:15-17 New Living Translation (NLT)

15 Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. 16 For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world. 17 And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.

It has taken me many years to come out of the world and all that it stands for. The act of leaving the world and its delights behind is a process. It takes time to lose the affection for the things that the world loves.

To be a person that does not crave physical pleasure, or to crave things that we see, is becoming a person that is very different to most people that are found in the church. Many people in the church love all the world has to offer them. They love buying things, they love doing things that bring them comfort and they love achieving things and building up a stock pile of possessions.

Many people would not be able to survive with simply a few books, a computer and a Television. Many people would not be satisfied with simply possessing Jesus Christ and walking in His glory.

I personally feel that you can only be filled with the Spirit to the measure that you are emptied of the things of the world. I feel that the more that you have things of the world in your life, the less that God can possess you.

Many preachers in this world do not preach about how one can become set apart for God. Many preachers say that you can possess all the good things of the world, and possess God as well. This is simply not so.

Many people ask me, “How am I so close to the Lord?” I am close to the Lord because I pursue His ways and His love. I am emptied of the things of the world, and full of the Spirit of Jesus.

I hope to write a book about this one day.