1john2 15

15       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.

16       For

all that is in the world, 

            the lust of the flesh

and the lust of the eyes

and the boastful pride of life,

is not from the Father,

but

is from the world.

     17  The world is passing away,

       and also

       its lusts;

       but

       the one who does the will of God

       lives forever.

15 Do not love this world

nor the things it offers you,

for

when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.

16 For

the world offers only

a craving for physical pleasure,

a craving for everything we see,

and pride in our achievements and possessions.

These are not from the Father,

but are from this world.

17 And

this world is fading away,

along with

everything that people crave.

But

anyone who does what pleases God

will live forever.

(2:15–17) The word “world” here is kosmos:  The world (kosmos, the opposite of chaos). The world is that organized system which acts as a rival to God. 1 John 5:19 says, “We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one.

 “The sum-total of human life in the ordered world, considered apart from, alienated from, and hostile to God, and of the earthly things which seduce from God (John 7:7; 15:18; 17:9, 14; I Cor. 1:20, 21.  James 4:4).”   The world is the ordered system of which Satan is the head, his fallen angels and demons are his emissaries, and the unsaved of the human race are his subjects, together with those purposes, pursuits, pleasures, practices, and places where God is not wanted. It is anti-God and anti-Christ.

This world of unsaved humanity is inspired by the thoughts, opinions, speculations, hopes, impulses, aims, aspirations which constitutes a most real and effective power, being the moral, or immoral atmosphere which at every moment of our lives we inhale, again inevitably to exhale.” This is the world-system to which John refers.

The word “love” here is agapaō , the word used of God’s love for a lost race of sinners, and which is self-sacrificial in its essence (John 3:16), the love which He is by nature, and the love which is produced in the heart of the yielded saint by the Holy Spirit. The question confronts us now as to how believers can love the sinful world with a love produced in their hearts by the Holy Spirit. The answer is that the Bible writers when taking certain Greek words over into the Bible, poured an additional content of meaning into them, as in this case, but at times use the word, not in its newly-acquired New Testament meaning, but in its purely classical connotation. Here, agapaō  is used merely in its classical meaning, that of a love called out of one’s heart by the preciousness of the object loved. The word as used here refers to a fondness, an affection, non-ethical in its content, for an object because of its value. It is a love of approbation, of esteem. Demas is said to have loved this present age. He found it precious and thus came to love it.

Some of John’s readers were still loving the world-system out from which they had been saved. John says: “Stop loving the world with a love called out of your hearts because of its preciousness.”

We must use the things in the world, but when we love them in place of God, we abuse their use.  I Cor 7:31 says,  “Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away.”

The expression “if any man love the world” is a hypothetical condition. This marks this hypothetical person as one who loves the world as a habit of life to the exclusion of any love for God. This is an unsaved person.

Since the world is the same as darkness, it must exclude God, who is light. This is the first reason for not loving the world.

In this person, the love of the Father does not exist. This is love for the Father as generated in the heart of the yielded believer by the Holy Spirit.   And here the word “love” (agapē ) is used in its New Testament sense.

As for the words, “is not in him,”: “This means more than that he does not love God: rather, that the love of God does not dwell in him as the ruling principle of his life.      ‘It is impossible for love to the world to coexist with love to God, as it is impossible for light and darkness to coexist.’ ”

In the phrase, “all that is in the world,” the word “all” refers to all that is in the world collectively. “Lust” is “a craving, a passionate desire,” good or evil, according to the context. Here it refers to evil cravings.  The present day usage of lust confines its meaning to an immoral desire. “Flesh here refers to the totally depraved nature as governing the individual’s reason, will, and emotions. Thus, the lust of the flesh is the passionate desire or the craving that comes from the evil nature. The word “flesh” here has no reference to the physical body except as that body is controlled or energized by the evil nature.

Thus the meaning is not lust for flesh but the flesh’s lusts, or those lusts which have their base in the flesh.

The physical body and its members in themselves have no evil desires except as controlled by the totally depraved nature.

To say that the physical body of itself has evil desires is Gnosticism, the heresy that matter is inherently evil.

Now, John speaks of one of the manifestations of the evil nature, the lust of the eyes, namely the passionate cravings of the eyes for satisfaction, these cravings finding their source in the evil nature.  Lust of the eyes. The eyes are the gate from the world to the flesh. In the phrase, lust of the flesh, the thought is of physical pleasure; while in lust of the eyes, the thought is of mental, physical, or aesthetic pleasure.

Another manifestation of the evil nature is the pride of life.  “It means, originally, empty, braggart talk or display; swagger; and hence an insolent and vain assurance in one’s own resources, or in the stability of earthly things shamefully despising and violating divine laws and human rights.”   Pride in the possession of worldly goods.

The word “life” here is bios, referring to that which sustains life, namely, food, clothing, and shelter. “Of the Father” is “out from the Father as a source.” “Of the world” is “out from the world as a source.”

“Passeth away” The world is being caused to pass by. That is, God is causing the world to come to its end. It is being caused to pass by in a vain (futile) show, this parade of the world. But, John says, “The one who keeps on habitually doing the will of God abides forever.”

A Christian cannot live with a divided heart, responding one moment out of love for God and at the next turning to the world for pleasure. If we want to demonstrate (to ourselves, as well as to God) that we know Him, we need to make a clear-cut commitment to do the will of God rather than respond to the world’s passions.

Translation. Stop considering the world precious with the result that you love it, and the things in the world. If anyone as a habit of life is considering the world precious and is therefore loving it, there does not exist the love possessed by the Father in him. Because everything which is in the world, the passionate desire of the flesh, and the passionate desire of the eyes, and the insolent and empty assurance which trusts in the things that serve the creature life, is not from the Father as a source but is from the world as a source. And the world is being caused to pass away, and its passionate desire. But the one who keeps on habitually doing the will of God abides forever.

The things of the world therefore are distinguished into three classes, three predominant inclinations of depraved nature: (1.) There is the lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh is the appetite of indulging fleshly pleasures; and, objectively, all those things that excite and inflame the pleasures of the flesh.  (2.) There is the lust of the eyes. The eyes are delighted with treasures; riches and rich possessions are craved by an extravagant eye; this is the lust of covetousness. 3. There is the pride of life. A vain mind craves all the grandeur, and pomp of a vain-glorious life; this is ambition, and thirst after applause. This is, in part, the disease of the ear; it must be flattered with admiration and praise. The objects of these appetites must be abandoned and renounced; as they engage and engross the affection and desire, they are not of the Father, but of the world, v. 16. The Father disallows them, and the world should keep them to itself. The lust or appetite to these things must be mortified and subdued; and so the indulging of it is not appointed by the Father, but is insinuated by the ensnaring world.

There are four reasons why Christians should not love “the world.”

Because of What the World Is

The New Testament word world has at least three different meanings. It sometimes means the physical world, the earth: “God that made the world [our planet] and all things therein” (Acts 17:24). It also means the human world, mankind: “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16). Sometimes these two ideas appear together: “He [Jesus] was in the world, and the world [earth] was made by Him, and the world [mankind] knew Him not” (John 1:10).

But the warning, “Love not the world!” is not about the world of nature or the world of men. Christians ought to appreciate the beauty and usefulness of the earth God has made, since He “giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17). And they certainly ought to love people—not only their friends, but even their enemies.

This “world” named here as our enemy is an invisible spiritual system opposed to God and Christ.

We use the word world in the sense of system in our daily conversation. The TV announcer says, “We bring you the news from the world of sports.” “The world of sports” is not a separate planet or continent. It is an organized system, made up of a set of ideas, people, activities, purposes, etc. And “the world of finance” and “the world of politics” are likewise systems of their own. Behind what we see, in sports or finance, is an invisible system that we cannot see; and it is the system that “keeps things going.”

“The world,” in the Bible, is Satan’s system for opposing the work of Christ on earth. It is the very opposite of what is godly (1 John 2:16) and holy and spiritual. “We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one” (1 John 5:19, nasb). Jesus called Satan “the prince of this world” (John 12:31). The devil has an organization of evil spirits (Eph. 6:11–12) working with him and influencing the affairs of “this world.”

Just as the Holy Spirit uses people to accomplish God’s will on earth, so Satan uses people to fulfill his evil purposes. Unsaved people, whether they realize it or not, are energized by “the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Eph. 2:1–2).

Unsaved people belong to “this world.” Jesus calls them “the children of this world” (Luke 16:8). When Jesus was here on earth, the people of “this world” did not understand Him, nor do they now understand those of us who trust Him (1 John 3:1). A Christian is a member of the human world, and he lives in the physical world, but he does not belong to the spiritual world that is Satan’s system for opposing God. “If ye were of the world [Satan’s system], the world would love his own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:18).

“The world,” then, is not a natural habitat for a believer. The believer’s citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20, nasb), and all his effective resources for living on earth come from his Father in heaven.

The believer is somewhat like a scuba diver. The water is not man’s natural habitat, for he is not equipped for life in (or under) it. When a scuba diver goes under, he has to take special equipment with him so that he can breathe.

Were it not for the Holy Spirit’s living within us, and the spiritual resources we have in prayer, Christian fellowship, and the Word, we could never “make it” here on earth. We complain about the pollution of earth’s atmosphere—the atmosphere of “the world” is also so polluted spiritually that Christians cannot breathe normally!

But there is a second—and more serious—reason why Christians must not love the world.

Because of What the World Does to Us (1 John 2:15–16)

“If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15).

Worldliness is not so much a matter of activity as of attitude. It is possible for a Christian to stay away from questionable amusements and doubtful places and still love the world, for worldliness is a matter of the heart. To the extent that a Christian loves the world system and the things in it, he does not love the Father.

Worldliness not only affects your response to the love of God; it also affects your response to the will of God. “The world passeth away... but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever” (1 John 2:17).

Doing the will of God is a joy for those living in the love of God. “If ye love Me, keep My commandments.” But when a believer loses his enjoyment of the Father’s love, he finds it hard to obey the Father’s will.

When you put these two factors together, you have a practical definition of worldliness: anything in a Christian’s life that causes him to lose his enjoyment of the Father’s love or his desire to do the Father’s will is worldly and must be avoided. Responding to the Father’s love (your personal devotional life), and doing the Father’s will (your daily conduct)—these are two tests of worldliness.

Many things in this world are definitely wrong and God’s Word identifies them as sins. It is wrong to steal and to lie (Eph. 4:25, 28). Sexual sins are wrong (Eph. 5:1–3). About these and many other actions, Christians can have little or no debate. But there are areas of Christian conduct that are not so clear and about which even the best Christians disagree. In such cases, each believer must apply the test to his own life and be scrupulously honest in his self-examination, remembering that even a good thing may rob a believer of his enjoyment of God’s love and his desire to do God’s will.

A senior student in a Christian college was known for his excellent grades and his effective Christian service. He was out preaching each weekend and God was using him to win the souls and challenge Christians.

Then something happened: his testimony was no longer effective, his grades began to drop, and even his personality seemed to change. The president called him in.

“There’s been a change in your life and your work,” the president said, “and I wish you’d tell me what’s wrong.”

The student was evasive for a time, but then he told the story. He was engaged to a lovely Christian girl and was planning to get married after graduation. He had been called to a fine church and was anxious to move his new bride into the parsonage and get started in the pastorate.

“I’ve been so excited about it that I’ve even come to the place where I don’t want the Lord to come back!” he confessed. “And then the power dropped out of my life.”

His plans—good and beautiful as they were—came between him and the Father. He lost his enjoyment of the Father’s love. He was worldly!

John points out that the world system uses three devices to trap Christians: the lust (desire) of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). These same devices trapped Eve back in the Garden: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food [the lust of the flesh], and that it was pleasant to the eyes [the lust of the eyes], and a tree to be desired to make one wise [the pride of life], she took of the fruit” (Gen. 3:6).

The lust of the flesh includes anything that appeals to man’s fallen nature. “The flesh” does not mean “the body.” Rather, it refers to the basic nature of unregenerate man that makes him blind to spiritual truth (1 Cor. 2:14). Flesh is the nature we receive in our physical birth; spirit is the nature we receive in the second birth (John 3:5–6). When we trust Christ, we become “partakers of the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). A Christian has both the old nature (flesh) and the new nature (Spirit) in his life. And what a battle these two natures can wage! (Gal. 5:17–23)

God has given man certain desires, and these desires are good. Hunger, thirst, weariness, and sex are not at all evil in themselves. There is nothing wrong about eating, drinking, sleeping, or begetting children. But when the flesh nature controls them, they become sinful “lusts.” Hunger is not evil, but gluttony is sinful. Thirst is not evil, but drunkenness is a sin. Sleep is a gift of God, but laziness is shameful. Sex is God’s precious gift when used rightly; but when used wrongly, it becomes immorality.

Now you can see how the world operates. It appeals to the normal appetites and tempts us to satisfy them in forbidden ways. In today’s world we are surrounded by all kinds of allurements that appeal to our lower nature—and “the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41). If a Christian yields to it, he will get involved in the “works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19–21 gives us the ugly list).

It is important that a believer remember what God says about his old nature, the flesh. Everything God says about the flesh is negative. In the flesh there is no good thing (Rom. 7:18). The flesh profits nothing (John 6:63). A Christian is to put no confidence in the flesh (Phil. 3:3). He is to make no provision for the flesh (Rom. 13:14). A person who lives for the flesh is living a negative life.

The second device that the world uses to trap the Christian is called “the lust of the eyes.” We sometimes forget that the eyes can have an appetite! (Have you ever said, “Feast your eyes on this”?)

The lust of the flesh appeals to the lower appetites of the old nature, tempting us to indulge them in sinful ways. The lust of the eyes, however, operates in a more refined way. In view here are pleasures that gratify the sight and the mind—sophisticated and intellectual pleasures. Back in the days of the Apostle John, the Greeks and Romans lived for entertainments and activities that excited the eyes. Times have not changed very much! In view of television, perhaps every Christian’s prayer ought to be, “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity” (Ps. 119:37, nasb).

Achan (Josh. 7), a soldier, brought defeat to Joshua’s army because of the lust of his eyes. God had warned Israel not to take any spoils from the condemned city of Jericho, but Achan did not obey. He explained: “When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and 200 shekels of silver, then I coveted them, and took them” (Josh. 7:21). The lust of the eyes led him into sin, and his sin led the army into defeat.

The eyes (like the other senses) are a gateway into the mind. The lust of the eyes, therefore, can include intellectual pursuits that are contrary to God’s Word. There is pressure to make Christians think the way the world thinks. God warns us against “the counsel of the ungodly.” This does not mean that Christians ignore education and secular learning; it does mean they are careful not to let intellectualism crowd God into the background.

The third device is the “boastful pride of life” (nasb). God’s glory is rich and full; man’s glory is vain and empty. In fact, the Greek word for “pride” was used to describe a braggart who was trying to impress people with his importance. People have always tried to outdo others in their spending and their getting. The boastful pride of life motivates much of what such people do.

Why is it that so many folks buy houses, cars, appliances, or wardrobes that they really cannot afford? Why do they succumb to the “travel now, pay later” advertising and get themselves into hopeless debt taking vacations far beyond their means? Largely because they want to impress other people—because of their “pride of life.” They may want folks to notice how affluent or successful they are.

Most of us do not go that far, but it is amazing what stupid things people do just to make an impression. They even sacrifice honesty and integrity in return for notoriety and a feeling of importance.

Yes, the world appeals to a Christian through the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And once the world takes over in one of these areas, a Christian will soon realize it. He will lose his enjoyment of the Father’s love and his desire to do the Father’s will. The Bible will become boring and prayer a difficult chore. Even Christian fellowship may seem empty and disappointing. It is not that there is something wrong with others, however—what’s wrong is the Christian’s worldly heart.

It is important to note that no Christian becomes worldly all of a sudden. Worldliness creeps up on a believer; it is a gradual process. First is the friendship of the world (James 4:4). By nature, the world and the Christian are enemies (“Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you,” 1 John 3:13). A Christian who is a friend of the world is an enemy of God.

Next, the Christian becomes “spotted by the world” (James 1:27). The world leaves its dirty marks on one or two areas of his life. This means that gradually the believer accepts and adopts the ways of the world.

When this happens, the world ceases to hate the Christian and starts to love him! So John warns us, “Love not the world!”—but too often our friendship with the world leads to love. As a result, the believer becomes conformed to the world (Rom. 12:2) and you can hardly tell the two apart.

Among Christians, worldliness rears its ugly head in many subtle and unrecognized forms. Sometimes we tend to idolize great athletes, TV stars, or political leaders who profess to be Christians—as if these individuals were able to be of special help to Almighty God. Or we cater to wealthy and “influential” persons in our local church, as if God’s work would fold up without their good will or financial backing. Many forms of worldliness do not involve reading the wrong books and indulging in “carnal” amusements.

Sad to say, being conformed to the world can lead a Christian into being “condemned with the world” (1 Cor. 11:32). If a believer confesses and judges this sin, God will forgive him; but if he does not confess, God must lovingly chasten him. When a Christian is “condemned with the world,” he does not lose his sonship. Rather, he loses his testimony and his spiritual usefulness. And in extreme cases, Christians have even lost their lives! (read 1 Cor. 11:29–30)

The downward steps and their consequences are illustrated in the life of Lot (Gen. 13:5–13; 14:8–14; 19). First Lot looked toward Sodom. Then he pitched his tent toward Sodom in the well-watered plains of Jordan. Then he moved into Sodom. And when Sodom was captured by the enemy, Lot was captured too. He was a believer (2 Peter 2:6–8), but he had to suffer with the unbelieving sinners of that wicked city. And when God destroyed Sodom, everything Lot lived for went up in smoke! Lot was saved so as by fire and lost his eternal reward (1 Cor. 3:12–15).

No wonder John warns us not to love the world!

Because of What a Christian Is (1 John 2:12–14)

This raises a practical and important question about the nature of a Christian and how he keeps from getting worldly.

The answer is found in the unusual form of address used in 1 John 2:12–14. Note the titles used as John addresses his Christian readers: “little children... fathers... young men... little children.”

What is he referring to?

To begin with, “little children” (1 John 2:12) refers to all believers. Literally, this word means “born ones.” All Christians have been born into God’s family through faith in Jesus Christ, and their sins have been forgiven. The very fact that one is in God’s family, sharing His nature, ought to discourage him from becoming friendly with the world. To be friendly with the world is treachery! “Friendship with the world is enmity with God... whosoever therefore will be [wants to be] a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (cf. James 4:4).

But something else is true: we begin as little children—born ones—but we must not stay that way! Only as a Christian grows spiritually does he overcome the world.

John mentions three kinds of Christians in a local church family: fathers, young men, and little children (1 John 2:12–14). The “fathers,” of course, are mature believers who have an intimate personal knowledge of God. Because they know God, they know the dangers of the world. No Christian who has experienced the joys and wonders of fellowship with God, and of service for God, will want to live on the substitute pleasures this world offers.

The “young men” are the conquerors: they have overcome the wicked one, Satan, who is the prince of this world system. How did they overcome him? Through the Word of God! “I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth in you” (1 John 2:14). The “young men,” then, are not yet fully mature; but they are maturing, for they use the Word of God effectively. The Word is the only weapon that will defeat Satan (Eph. 6:17).

The “little children” addressed in 1 John 2:13 are not those addressed in 1 John 2:12; two different Greek words are used. The word in 1 John 2:13 carries the idea of “immature ones,” or little children still under the authority of teachers and tutors. These are young Christians who have not yet grown up in Christ. Like physical children, these spiritual children know their father, but they still have some growing to do.

Here, then, is the Christian family! All of them are “born ones,” but some of them have grown out of infancy into spiritual manhood and adulthood. It is the growing, maturing Christian to whom the world does not appeal. He is too interested in loving his Father and in doing his Father’s will. The attractions of the world have no allure for him. He realizes that the things of the world are only toys, and he can say with Paul, “When I became a man, I put away childish things” (1 Cor. 13:11).

A Christian stays away from the world because of what the world is (a satanic system that hates and opposes Christ), because of what the world does to us (attracts us to live on sinful substitutes), and because of what he (the Christian) is—a child of God.

Because of Where the World Is Going (1 John 2:17)

“The world is passing away!” (cf. 1 John 2:17)

That statement would be challenged by many men today who are confident that the world—the system in which we live—is as permanent as anything can be. But the world is not permanent. The only sure thing about this world system is that it is not going to be here forever. One day the system will be gone, and the pleasant attractions within it will be gone: all are passing away. What is going to last?

Only what is part of the will of God!

Spiritual Christians keep themselves “loosely attached” to this world because they live for something far better. They are “strangers and pilgrims on the earth” (Heb. 11:13). “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come” (Heb. 13:14). In Bible times, many believers lived in tents because God did not want them to settle down and feel at home in this world.

John is contrasting two ways of life: a life lived for eternity and a life lived for time. A worldly person lives for the pleasures of the flesh, but a dedicated Christian lives for the joys of the Spirit. A worldly believer lives for what he can see, the lust of the eyes; but a spiritual believer lives for the unseen realities of God (2 Cor. 4:8–18). A worldly minded person lives for the pride of life, the vainglory that appeals to men; but a Christian who does the will of God lives for God’s approval. And he “abideth forever.”

Every great nation in history has become decadent and has finally been conquered by another nation. There is no reason why we should suppose that our nation will be an exception. Some nineteen world civilizations in the past have slipped into oblivion. There is no reason why we should think that our present civilization will endure forever. “Change and decay in all around I see,” wrote Henry F. Lyte (1793–1847), and if our civilization is not eroded by change and decay it will certainly be swept away and replaced by a new order of things at the coming of Christ, which could happen at any time.

Slowly but inevitably, and perhaps sooner than even Christians think, the world is passing away; but the man who does God’s will abides forever.

This does not mean that all God’s servants will be remembered by future generations. Of the multitudes of famous men who have lived on earth, less than 2,000 have been remembered by any number of people for more than a century.

Nor does it mean that God’s servants will live on in their writings or in the lives of those they influenced. Such “immortality” may be a fact, but it is equally true of unbelievers like Karl Marx, Voltaire, or Adolf Hitler.

No, we are told here (1 John 2:17) that Christians who dedicate themselves to doing God’s will—to obeying God—“abide [remain] forever.” Long after this world system, with its vaunted culture, its proud philosophies, its egocentric intellectualism, and its godless materialism, has been forgotten, and long after this planet has been replaced by the new heavens and the new earth, God’s faithful servants will remain—sharing the glory of God for all eternity.

And this prospect is not limited to Moody, Spurgeon, Luther, or Wesley and their likes—it is open to each and every humble believer. If you are trusting Christ, it is for you.

This present world system is not a lasting one. “The fashion of this world passeth away” (1 Cor. 7:31). Everything around us is changing, but the things that are eternal never change. A Christian who loves the world will never have peace or security because he has linked his life with that which is in a state of flux. “He is no fool,” wrote missionary martyr Jim Elliot, “who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”

The New Testament has quite a bit to say about “the will of God.” One of the “fringe benefits” of salvation is the privilege of knowing God’s will (Acts 22:14). In fact, God wants us to be “filled with the knowledge of His will” (Col. 1:9). The will of God is not something that we consult occasionally like an encyclopedia. It is something that completely controls our lives. The issue for a dedicated Christian is not simply, “Is it right or wrong?” or “Is it good or bad?” The key issue is, “Is this the will of God for me?”

God wants us to understand His will (Eph. 5:17), not just know what it is. “He made known His ways unto Moses, His acts unto the children of Israel” (Ps. 103:7). Israel knew what God was doing, but Moses knew why He was doing it! It is important that we understand God’s will for our lives and see the purposes He is fulfilling.

After we know the will of God, we should do it from the heart (Eph. 6:6). It is not by talking about the Lord’s will that we please Him, but by doing what He tells us (Matt. 7:21). And the more we obey God, the better able we are to “find and follow God’s will” (Rom. 12:2, wms). Discovering and doing God’s will is something like learning to swim: you must get in the water before it becomes real to you. The more we obey God, the more proficient we become in knowing what He wants us to do.

God’s goal for us is that we will “stand... complete in all the will of God” (Col. 4:12). This means to be mature in God’s will.

A little child constantly asks his parents what is right and what is wrong and what they want him to do or not to do. But as he lives with his parents and experiences their training and discipline, he gradually discovers what their will for him is. In fact, a disciplined child can “read his father’s mind” just by watching the parent’s face and eyes! An immature Christian is always asking his friends what they think God’s will is for him. A mature Christian stands complete in the will of God. He knows what the Lord wants him to do.

How does one discover the will of God? The process begins with surrender: “Present your bodies a living sacrifice... be not conformed to this world... that ye may prove [know by experience] what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect will of God” (Rom. 12:1–2). A Christian who loves the world will never know the will of God in this way. The Father shares His secrets with those who obey Him. “If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine” (John 7:17). And God’s will is not a “spiritual cafeteria” where a Christian takes what he wants and rejects the rest! No, the will of God must be accepted in its entirety. This involves a personal surrender to God of one’s entire life.

God reveals His will to us through His Word. “Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps. 119:105). A worldly believer has no appetite for the Bible. When he reads it, he gets little or nothing from it. But a spiritual believer, who spends time daily reading the Bible and meditating on it, finds God’s will there and applies it to his everyday life.

We may also learn God’s will through circumstances. God moves in wonderful ways to open and close doors. We must test this kind of leading by the Word of God—and not test the Bible’s clear teaching by circumstances!

Finally, God leads us into His will through prayer and the working of His Spirit in our hearts. As we pray about a decision, the Spirit speaks to us. An “inner voice” may agree with the leading of circumstances. We are never to follow this “inner voice” alone: we must always test it by the Bible, for it is possible for the flesh (or for Satan) to use circumstances—or “feelings”—to lead us completely astray.

To sum it up, a Christian is in the world physically (John 17:11), but he is not of the world spiritually (John 17:14). Christ has sent us into the world to bear witness of Him (John 17:18). Like a scuba diver, we must live in an alien element, and if we are not careful, the alien element will stifle us. A Christian cannot help being in the world, but when the world is in the Christian, trouble starts!

The world gets into a Christian through his heart: “Love not the world!” Anything that robs a Christian of his enjoyment of the Father’s love, or of his desire to do the Father’s will, is worldly and must be avoided. Every believer, on the basis of God’s Word, must identify those things for himself.

A Christian must decide, “Will I live for the present only, or will I live for the will of God and abide forever?” Jesus illustrated this choice by telling about two men. One built on the sand and the other on the rock (Matt. 7:24–27). Paul referred to the same choice by describing two kinds of material for building: temporary and permanent (1 Cor. 3:11–15).

Love for the world is the love God hates. It is the love a Christian must shun at all costs!