Do Not Love This World

1 John 2:15-17

New Living Translation

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.

I like how simply The New Living Translation reads: “craving everything you see”.  The King James Version calls this the “Lust of the eyes”. Simply put, the lust of the eyes is the desire to possess what we see or those things which have visual appeal. Which is coveting money, possessions, or other physical things; this is not from God, but from the world around us. 

We must follow Jesus’ example and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, resist the lust of the eyes. The world is full of “eye candy,” glamor, and allure. Materialism summons us with its promise of happiness and fulfillment. A media-saturated society invades us with advertising campaigns that might as well say, “Covet this!”

All that glitters is not gold; treasures and finery quickly fade (Proverbs 23:5). Our focus is not to be on the newest product or latest fashion. Our goal is not to keep up with the Joneses or to surround ourselves with the trappings of the latest gadgets. Instead, our goal is “to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings” (Philippians 3:10). Our eyes are set on Jesus (Hebrews 12:2). Our view is to eternity.

The enemy uses the material things of this world to distract us from God’s work in and through us. When we begin to crave “things” our focus becomes self-centered.   As James 1:15 tells us, the inner person is where sin originates, and in this case, covetousness is the forerunner of all manner of sin. At its root, coveting is the result of envy, a sin which, once it takes root in the heart, leads to worse sins.  Envy goes beyond casting a longing glance at the neighbor’s new car.  When envy has taken root in the heart it grows and now the neighbor’s possessions can turn to feelings of resentment and hatred for the neighbor himself. That can turn into resentment against God and questioning Him: “Why can’t I have what he has, Lord? Don’t you love me enough to give me what I want?”  Envy is love of self; the New Testament identifies covetousness as a form of idolatry, a sin which God detests (Colossians 3:5). In the end, envy and covetousness are Satan’s tools to distract us from pursuing the only thing that will ever make us happy and content—God Himself. God’s Word tells us that “godliness with contentment is great gain” and that we should be content with the basic necessities of life (1 Timothy 6:6-8), because true happiness is not attained by things, but by a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. By this alone do we gain that which is worthy, true, solid, satisfying, and durable—the unsearchable riches of God’s grace.