Everything in the World

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 1 John 2:15-16

The Bible, especially the New Testament, sets up a clear division between "things of the spirit" and "the world." Followers of Jesus are to desire and pursue the things of the spirit above all else, for that is the path that leads to eternal life. However, it's not that "the world" is automatically bad; in fact, the Bible testifies that the world itself is good. God made the world and everything in it. God declared it "good." When Biblical authors, though, refer to "things of the world," they're not so much referring to the physical attributes of creation, but to the ways in which we have corrupted this place we live.

John, specifically, refers to three attributes of "the world" that, when we participate in them, do not allow us to honor God. He is bold enough to list these three things and declare them "everything in the world." In other words, avoid these three things and we will demonstrate our love for God. What are those three things?

The lust of the flesh.

The lust of the eyes.

The pride of life.

Sure, no problem. Easy things to avoid, right? Um...what exactly are those? What is John talking about?

Lust of the flesh...or wanting your own way. We see the way things are done and immediately our inner executive kicks in. "It would work so much better done this way." Or, this might consist of loud complaining, "No one is listening to me. Why aren't they doing it my way?" Have you ever noticed how we will, when we are demanding our own way, ask those we are demanding it from to "consider it prayerfully"? The underlying sentiment is either that (a) obviously you haven't prayed about this or God would have told you to do it my way or (b) if you really pray about it, God will lead you to do it my way. Either way, there's a degree of spiritual arrogance when we assume "prayerfully considering" something will inevitably lead to you seeing it and doing it my way. Lust of the flesh.

Lust of the eyes...or wanting everything for yourself. In the Old Testament, this is called coveting (see Exodus 20:17). And there is a difference between admiring something someone else has and desiring something someone else has. For instance, if someone has a nice home and you'd like to have one like it...there is a wide difference between the person who works hard, saves and purchases a similar home and the person who schemes, envies and perhaps makes themselves sick trying to figure out how to take away what the other person has. What do you desperately desire? What do you think you can't live without? Lust of the eyes.

And the pride of life...or wanting to appear important. We might immediately think of candidates and the grandstanding that is so much a part of the evening news right now, but we all do it in perhaps smaller ways (though no less damaging). In conversation, we're waiting to tell a bigger story than the person who is sharing, just so we can be noticed. At our jobs, we make sure others know how hard we are working. In our churches, we make sure that our work and service is noticed, thanked and publicized (even though Jesus said the first shall be last, Matthew 20:16). There are so many ways we try to make ourselves appear important...which is the pride of life.

So do any of these show up in your life? Have they shown up today? John says that we, in order to have love for the Father, need to walk away from these things as quickly and as early as we can. What first step can you take today?