I LOVE my God! He is absolutely deserving of all my love and commands my love.
Matt. 22:37-38, "And He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment.'"
How can I not but give my all to the one who suffered humiliation and beatings and the most painful death known to man so that I might enjoy Him forever and praise Him with all that I am forever. In light of this, how can I love the world and the things of this world? I CAN'T!!!!
1 John 2:15-17 says, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."
The world and Christ are at complete enmity with one another. If I love the world, I am an enemy of God. It breaks my heart when I see my brothers and sisters in Christ who engage in the things of this world...enjoying the lusts of the flesh. Sure, they are tempting, but they lead to death.
John 10:10 says, "The thief comes only to kill, steal, and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
While the things of this world may be tempting and seem pleasurable, Satan really only wants to kill, steal, and destroy you through them. The world hates us because it hated Christ and we are in Christ.
John 15:19 says, "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you."
The world hates Christ and it hates us...how then can we love the things of this world? How can we run to them instead of Christ? We have been crucified and buried with Christ and raised again with Him. We have died to the old self and have put on the new man, which is in Christ.
I was really just thinking about this and the implications of this in my own life. If I truly say that I am a son of God, and that I love my Lord and Savior with my whole heart and all of my being, and if I am truly searching after Him, I can't and won't love the things of this world. Romans 12:9 says that we are to abhor evil and cling to what is good. Abhor is such a strong word. It means "to regard with extreme repugnance or aversion; detest utterly; loathe; abominate." This is how the Lord feels about sin and this is how I am to feel about sin.
1 John 3:5-6,9 say, "5You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. 6No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has sen Him or knows Him. 9No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
If I am completely abiding in Christ (as is my desire) I cannot sin. Andrew Murray says this regarding verses 5-6. "He admits sinners into life union with Himself; the result is that their life becomes like His...when the abiding in Christ becomes close and unbroken, so that the soul lives from moment to moment in the perfect union with the Lord its keeper, He does, indeed keep down the power of the old nature, so that it does no regain dominion over the soul." What blessed assurance!! It makes perfect sense. If Christ absolutely abhors sin, and I am abiding in Him, then I must abhor sin as well. If I am filled with Christ, then sin has no place in my life. I can either love my Lord or I can love the things of this world. May we seek to abide fully and only in Christ day by day, hour by hour, and moment by moment, because we are in complete need of Him. May we be so consumed with Christ that we cannot even entertain the idea of desiring the things this world may have to offer.
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