Who are you loving?
I John 2:15-17
15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
For this blog, we decided to look up the preceding verses of scripture to ensure they were still in God’s Word. The reason we wondered if they were still in the book is by what we see in Churches would make one think they had been removed.
For example, recently the Green Bay Packers had a game in London England. As this was a different time zone, the game was played on Sunday morning for those who lived in Wisconsin. This interfered with most Church services, however, an article online told of one area Church conforming their service around this game. For example, they had “worship in two-minute sections – during the commercial breaks.” Then, during halftime, their Pastor gave a sermon and final blessing.
Finally, the article quoted the Pastor as saying, “Our hope is that this reminds people God is present in every part of our lives, and we can worship and watch the Packer game, we can live with God’s presence with us in every part of our lives.”
No offense, but does this Pastor not know the Word of God? Or shall we quote Jesus when he said “have ye not read”? Have we not read we are not to love the world? However, like the enemy does, he likes to blend God with the world to create confusion. These people, during a time when they should be focused on God and learning of Him, put him secondary. The propped up their “god” as higher and tried to fit the true God around their love of the world. Even the Pastors quote made it seem like you can fit God into any way you would like to live.
Romans 12:2
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
The word “conformed” in this verse means “to fashion alike, that is conform to the same pattern”. What Paul is telling the Church in Rome is we do not adopt the form, fashion, or appearance of the world. We commonly see people of this world adopting the form and fashion of their favorite musicians, actors, and athletes. They style their hair, dress like, and even talk like their favorite idols. In other words, they have “conformed to this world”.
However, as Christians, we are not to adopt the fashion of this world. Rather, we are to be “transformed” or to put on another form. This form is the renewing of our mind. When we renew our mind, meaning, change the views from a love of this world to a love of God, we desire His will. In doing this, we prove what is good, acceptable and the perfect will of God. We desire to live a life pleasing to God and refrain from all worldly influences.
Rather than work God around our love for the world as the Church previously mentioned did, we remove the love and fashion of the world from our lives. In doing this, we desire God and His will to be done in our lives.
This begs the question, who are you loving?
