Godly Living

1 John 2:15

I used to struggle when I would read John telling believers to love God and each other, but not the things of the world. Because what about my loved ones? Is it a sin to want to both be with God and to stay in the world with them? But then I learned that when John was speaking of the world, he didn’t mean the people in it. But rather the sinful system of values and beliefs that are opposed to God’s will. If we are in love with a society that promote selfishness, pride, materialism, and other worldly values, we can’t be in love with the Lord. And we won’t be dedicated to living lives that glorify Him and seeing His will done. When it comes to worldly living, I love what evangelist John Wesley has to say. “The best means of resisting the devil is, to destroy whatever of the world remains in us, in order to raise for God, upon its ruins, a building all of love. Then shall we begin, in this fleeting life, to love God as we shall love him in eternity.”