Do Not Love The World - Why Not, God Does?
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...” (John 3:16-17)
“We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” (1 John 4:14)
“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)
In my immature years I had a hard time with the above verses which seemed to contradict themselves. It did not make sense that it was okay for God to love "the world" and for Jesus to save "the world", yet we are NOT to love it and if we do the Father does not dwell in us. Made no sense to me at the time.
Now that I am in my mature years, I realize that John was simply stating the obvious. Since God loved the world and sent Jesus to save the world – we don’t have to love it or save it. When we try to do what God has already done, it just shows that we have not trusted God and therefore the love of the Father does not dwell in us.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)
“We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” (1 John 4:14)
“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)
In my immature years I had a hard time with the above verses which seemed to contradict themselves. It did not make sense that it was okay for God to love "the world" and for Jesus to save "the world", yet we are NOT to love it and if we do the Father does not dwell in us. Made no sense to me at the time.
Now that I am in my mature years, I realize that John was simply stating the obvious. Since God loved the world and sent Jesus to save the world – we don’t have to love it or save it. When we try to do what God has already done, it just shows that we have not trusted God and therefore the love of the Father does not dwell in us.
“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly…God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)