“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” – 1 John 2:15
Imagine you’re back in 2019, and you were told that in a year from now you wouldn’t be able to meet with a friend at their house, and that hosting a birthday party would be illegal. The reality is that would have shocked all of us, but none the less that is the very reality we are in.
Even though this year continues to be strange and the restrictions upon us are as high as ever, there is a hidden benefit that none of us should miss. We’re now given an opportunity to evaluate how much the love of the world has come upon us. The scriptures are very clear, for us as Christians we are not to love the world or the things in the world. This does not mean to remove all hobbies or activities in the world, but to evaluate what is really consuming our hearts, our time and energy in our life. With all the increased restrictions we now face, and the fact that old habits may be impacted we have a couple choices. We can double down and find new worldly things to replace the original worldly passions we lost, or we can pursue new and godly choices before us.
Thomas Chalmers a Scottish preacher in the 1800’s said it like this, “the only way to dispossess [the heart] of an old affection, is by the expulsive power of a new one”. What Thomas Chalmers is saying here is that you can’t simply stop loving the world by loving nothing else. Getting rid of your passions will only leave a void. The best and truest way to remove a worldly love is to replace it with a greater love, and the greatest thing of all being Christ. Read through a book of the Bible with your family, set a new goal for memorization, watch media that will encourage you in the faith. My wife and I as an example, recently started going through a video series from Francis Schaeffer, ‘How Should We Then Live’, which looks at Christianity amidst Western history. It has encouraged our faith.
Even as the current restrictions from our government are many, they have no say in what we love. We can use these days to stop loving the world, to see how fleeting the world is, and to re-orient ourselves to Christ. Let us find more joy, love and trust in the Cross of Jesus than hours of Movies, Media, News, Netflix or anything else the world could offer.
