It’s impossible to love God and to love the things that are in this world. It is possible (maybe even probable) to misunderstand what God is saying in 1 John 2:15. Enjoying nature, people, music, art, clothes, entertainment, etc. is not what is meant by loving the things that are in this world — even though it’s common to hear statements like, “I love that song or I love that outfit.” That’s not the kind of love being talked about here. What then helps to clarify the difference between the two opposite kinds of love?
The following verses in 1 John 2 (16-17) state:
“For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.”
The key words are lust and pride. The definition of lust is much broader than what most people realize.
The more that lust affects one’s life, the greater becomes the desire for possession and control of some object, person, or circumstance. On the flip side, the less that lust controls an individual, the more that person will be content no matter what challenges this world throws his way. How can that be? Because when we identify our life solely upon God, we are satisfied with what He gives us — even when being persecuted for our faith.
To be able to trust that God is always giving us what we need requires knowing that God is sovereign. That’s how we can know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
If we don’t love God, we will be slaves to our lusts and to the pride of life. We’ll also be unable to love our neighbour as we love our self. Without God’s love in us, if someone doesn’t satisfy our desires, we’re not going to earnestly pray that God saves and teaches them the real way to have a fulfilled life. Instead, we’ll nurture a secret (or not so secret) hatred towards those who irritate us, while those who might soothe our souls can become an addiction.¹
We won’t be vulnerable to the thoughts and/or actions of others when our life is completely resting in God’s hands, because we’ll know that God is not at the mercy of anyone or anything mankind can make. It’s easy to say, “Let go and let God,” but the truth will prevail when it comes time to ‘let go’. That’s why the death of a life we harbor too much of an affection for in our heart can have a profound affect upon us² and why confusion can creep in when panic³ takes over. God is not the author of confusion [1 Cor 14:33]. God does not give us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind [2 Tim 1:7]. Because he gives us the spirit of power, love, and a sound mind, we can be set free from whatever our flesh and eyes lust after, along with being freed from our pride.
Demonic spirits of fear, weakness, and hatred keep a person duped into serving deceptive gods that can never bring enough satisfaction. Irrational behavior will be the final result of indulging oneself with the things that are in this world when lust and/or pride are the motive. Only a self-controlled person can overcome temptations in this world, but that’s only possible if he’s controlled by the Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance ['egkrateia' — 1) self-control (the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, esp. his sensual appetites) — from 'egkrates'; self-control (especially continence):-temperance.]: against such there is no law.
If we know that our Heavenly Father cares enough to number the very hairs of our head and that we’re of more value than many sparrows, there is no reason to fear anything. It stands to reason then that if we don’t have this peace which comes from abiding in Christ, there will always be something making us believe, “If only I had a little more of this or some of that, I’d be content.”
The dilemma to caring enough to know where our love is is that we need God’s love in order to recognize the counterfeit Satan can masterfully trick us into believing we have. It makes the difference between knowing ourself versus merely thinking that we know ourself. God tells us in 2 Corinthians 13:5,
“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”
…because we need to know whether or not we’re in the faith of Christ. Reprobates cannot know their own self. God gave those (who do not like to retain Him in all their thoughts) over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient [i.e., not right]. — Romans 1:28
While we’re still here in this world, we’ll never know what true fulfillment is in our life if we don’t overcome peer pressure, codependency, and the fear of man.
There can be no peer pressure if we are not concerned with how we appear to others. Wikipedia says peer pressure refers to the influence exerted by a peer ‘group’ in encouraging a person to change his or her attitudes, values, or behavior in order to conform to ‘group’ norms. Even in a one-on-one relationship consisting of two opposing peers, if one does not change his or her ways to conform to the other, the relationship has to tear apart at some point.
There can be no codependency if we are not able to be controlled or manipulated by an addict (not just to illegal or legal drugs and alcohol, but also to things like pride).
There can be no fear of man where the fear of God is greater. This fear towards God however is a healthy one, because it is based upon knowing that His commandments are for our good. It’s insane to fear any man more than God, because there is no man that can love us as perfectly as God does (not even any human father).
This world will pass away and the lust thereof, along with all who are not saved. But those who delight to do the will of God shall abide forever.
¹The ORIGIN of the term addicted comes from the mid 16th cent.: from the obsolete adjective addict [bound or devoted (to someone),] from Latin addict- ‘assigned,’ from the verb addicere, from ad- ‘to’ + dicere ’say.’
²This is why the first commandment is to love God and the second commandment is to love our neighbour. To the unsaved world, a Christian might appear to be hating his father, mother, wife, children, brethren, sisters, and his own life also. That’s because those who don’t know the agape kind of love God provides through personal experience do not have anything to compare the love for those in this world with. That’s also why, to them, those who love God will be an enigma.
³The word panic stems from the Greek word ‘panikon’, lit. “pertaining to Pan,” in sense of “panic, fright” short for panikon deima, from neut. of Panikos “of Pan,” the god of woods and fields who was the source of mysterious sounds that caused contagious, groundless fear in herds and crowds, or in people in lonely spots. Pan is one of the most evil symbols for Satan. Pan was so lustful that he was constantly chasing women in order to forcibly rape them.
