TODAY'S BIBLE VERSE

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. 1 John 2:15
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​Memorize this Verse: (Cover the verse text and using just the first letters of each word try to recite the entire passage.)
15.  L N T W N T T T A I T W I A M L T W T L O T F I N I H

Notes on this verse:

“Love not the world” is a command implying that action now in progress must cease: “Stop loving the world!” There is of course, one sense in which Christians should love the world, since God Himself did and does (John 3:16). But in the sense of pledging personal loyalty and devotion of one’s whole being and means, Christians are to “love” God first and foremost (Deut. 6:5; Mark 12:30).

Christians are in the world, but not of the world. Our home is in heaven. We need to keep our thoughts and desires set on things above. “World” in this example here, is speaking of the sin of the world. It is speaking of worldliness and fleshly lives.

Loving the world, in this sense, would be trying to please the desires of our flesh. To love the world, would make us a flesh man. Christians should be spirit men. The world and the things of the world are carnal.

This does not mean that we cannot enjoy the families God has given us, or the blessings we have received from Him. It does mean that we should not be caught up in worldly living. God must be first in our lives. We should not be hanging on to the world, but should eagerly await our home in heaven with Him.

Although John often repeats the importance of love and that God is love (4:7-8), he also reveals that God hates a certain type of love: love of the world (John 15:18-20). In this text, John expresses a particular form of the fourth test (i.e. the test of love).

Positively, the Christian loves God and fellow Christians. Negatively, an absence of love for the world must habitually characterize the love life of those to be considered genuinely born again. “Love here signifies affection and devotion. God, not the world, must have the first place in the Christian’s life (Matt. 10:37-39; Phil. 3:20).

“The world” is not a reference to the physical, material world but the invisible spiritual system of evil dominated by Satan and all that it offers in opposition to God, His Word, and His people. “The love of the Father is not in him”: Either one is a genuine Christian marked by love and obedience to God, or one is a non-Christian in rebellion against God.

Meaning in love with and enslaved by the satanically controlled world system (Ephesians 2:1-3); Col. 1:13; James 4:4). No middle ground between these two alternatives exists for someone claiming to be born again. The false teachers had no such singular love, but were devoted to the world’s philosophy and wisdom, thereby revealing their love for the world and their unsaved state. (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13; 1 Tim. 6:20; 2 Peter 2: 12-22).

TODAY'S BIBLE READING

March 26
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Our Bible Reading Plan runs from the 1st to the 25th of each month.
The next reading will be on the 1st of next month. Check back then!