Do not love the world or the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life, is not from the Father but is from the world. Yet the world and its enticement are passing away. But whoever does the will of God remains forever.
We live in this world, but are not part of this world. Like Jesus we love the world, but not the things of this world. Or, to put it another way, we love the world as Jesus loved the world, and not on its terms.
A wise parent can understand that. Foolish children want parental love and try to tell the parent how they should be loved. They have an endless list of demands; only some are reasonable; many are impractical, impossible, or dangerous. And, often, if they get what they demanded they have already forgotten that they ever wanted it.
The world is like that. Stumbling about blindly, it reels from need to desire to fear and greed. What is universally known today is forgotten tomorrow, and who even remembers it?
Science was supposed to end this endless muddle. It would tell us the facts, what was real, essential, and vital. But, the fact-driven American diet pursues one fad after another, spurred on by the latest scientific research, which reverses its doctrines almost as quickly as they're infallibly declared.
I know a very intelligent man, a lawyer, who cites "scientific research" to prove there is an everlasting war between "Caucasian" and "Negro" people. The two "races" are instinctively opposed to one another. "It's a fact!" he says, as if race, Caucasian and Negro have been scientifically isolated and defined.
For all that is in the world,
sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and a pretentious life,
is not from the Father but is from the world.
I do not disparage the scientific endeavor but I see how "Science" is sometimes proposed as an alternative to faith. The word is invoked like a solemn oath: "Science says...." And the discipline is used by some as a comprehensive philosophy; what cannot be scientifically studied, measured, and comprehended does not exist. Where Christians believe and trust in God for their Wisdom and Counsel, non-believers claim to know, and must put their faith in increasingly unreliable facts. Where Christians use trusted skills and knowledge, the fool claims mastery of all knowledge. Such nonsense is soon revealed as sensual lust, enticement for the eyes, and pretentious.
... the world and its enticement are passing away.But whoever does the will of God remains forever.The eleventh step of Alcoholics Anonymous says it well enough: We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
Beginning each day in prayer, ending each day with gratitude, we ask the Lord to tune our desires to God's desire, and direct our inclinations to that which God deems desirable. We tried it our way. It didn't work. We obeyed our own impulses and proved to the world what fools we could be. We turned to God and found wisdom. We turned to Jesus and heard his invitation, "Come follow me." We set our sails by the Spirit and found smooth sailing in turbulent seas.
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I love to write. This blog helps me to meditate on the Word of God, and I hope to make some contribution to our contemplations of God's Mighty Works.
Ordinarily, I write these reflections two or three weeks in advance of their publication. I do not intend to comment on current events.
I understand many people prefer gender-neutral references to "God." I don't disagree with them but find that language impersonal, unappealing and tasteless. When I refer to "God" I think of the One whom Jesus called "Abba" and "Father", and I would not attempt to improve on Jesus' language.
You're welcome to add a thought or raise a question.