“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).
The word “love” in this passage is the same Greek word that is used in other passages to teach us about our relationship with God—we are to love God, but we are not to love the world. This “love” has to do with where we place our devotions and with what we value most.
“World” here means “an ordered system separate from God”—that is, it refers to an ordered system that is opposed to God and to godly behavior rather than referring to the universe, the physical earth, or those who inhabit the earth. “Things in the world” refers to isolated items or behaviors in the world that might have special appeal to us.
Where we place our devotions is a choice—we can choose to live a life of which God approves or we can live a life opposed to the principles of Christianity laid down for us in the New Testament. This choice, however, does have consequences.
Wicked influences are around us everywhere, but we must exercise the good judgment to recognize those influences for what they are and to keep ourselves a significant distance from them if we want “the love of the Father” to be in us.
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