Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 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.
--
This scripture is significant because in addition to giving a commandment, it explains the reasoning behind it - in this case why we should not love the world. I find it interesting that the passage does not underscore sin or wickedness (though it implicitly condemns them with words like "lust" and "pride"), but the final line seems to plead instead that love of the world is simply vanity. That worldly things are loved and relied upon and sought after in vain. Those things pass away and all of the efforts we give to them will have been to no purpose ("you mean all of that time/work/money was for nothing?!"). Love of and obedience to God, however, is not idleness, is not vanity, but is truly lasting and "abideth for ever."
No comments:
Post a Comment