What Is Real Love? A Guide to 1 Johnናሙና

1 John 2:15-17

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. 1 John 2:15-17 NLT

Pray: Lord Jesus, thank you for all that you are and all that you’ve done. You pulled me out of the darkness and brought me into your marvelous light. And I will never be the same. I want to live in a way that honors your sacrifice. I want to grow in my relationship with you and step into opportunities to love others. Help me to please you today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Reading this passage brings up a few big questions:

1. Doesn’t John 3:16 say that God sent Jesus because He so loved the world? But this passage says if we love the world then the love of the Father isn’t in us? What’s up with that?
2. What does John mean when he talks about what the world offers: a craving for physical pleasure, everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions?
3. Finally, if anyone who does what pleases God will live forever, then what exactly pleases God?

Those are the questions we’ll be answering as we dive into this passage. Starting with the first question.

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. 1 John 2:15 NLT

Words usually have more than one meaning. For example, depending on how it is used, the word “line” can describe a group of people waiting for their order in a drive through, something that was drawn on a piece of paper, or even a part of a script that an actor is supposed to speak in a show or play.

The same idea is true when it comes to the words we read in the Bible. The same word can mean different things depending on the way it’s used.

Which is why when it comes to reading the Bible, we have to remember context is everything. Context is all the information around what we are reading that gives meaning to it.

In John 3:16 NIV, we read, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”

God didn’t just kind of love the world, He so loved the world. In this context, the word “world” means all the people who live on the earth.

In 1 Chronicles 16:29-31 NIV, we read, “Worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved.”

In this context, the word “world” is a synonym for planet earth.

But, in the passage we’re looking at today, John means something very different when he says, “the world.” So, what does John mean here? He means what Jesus does when He says, “The time for judging this world has come, when Satan, the ruler of this world, will be cast out. ” John 12:32 NLT

Which is also what he means when he writes, “We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one. 1 John 5:19 NLT

When John warns us to not love the world, he isn’t talking about the people or the planet. He’s talking about societies that are ruled by the devil and fueled by sin. The world John is talking about here is totally opposed to the Kingdom of God, a kingdom ruled by Jesus and fueled by love. Which is why John is saying we can’t love the world and also have the love of God in us. Because loving the world means rejecting God’s rule over our lives and choosing to live under the reign of the evil one. That’s the answer to question one.

Now, for question two.

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. 1 John 2:16 NLT

The devil’s primary strategy for taking out God’s people is to attack our identity and target our desires with lies and deception. He knows exactly what buttons to push to pressure us into disobeying God and hurting others.

When the devil comes for you, he’s not going to come for you with something obvious and in your face. He’s going to start with something small and subtle. And the small thing he starts with may not actually be a sinful thing. Not at first at least. But, overtime, he’s going to work on you until that small thing isn’t enough to satisfy your cravings. So that eventually, what started out as a small comfort becomes a sinful habit.

So, where are you vulnerable?

What cravings for physical pleasure is he targeting? Do you have an unhealthy relationship with food that would more accurately be defined as gluttony? Are you crossing physical lines with someone you’re not married to? Are you so committed to a life of comfort and leisure that you’ve become lazy?

What about cravings for the things you see? When you see pictures of people living a life of luxury, how do you respond? Do you become angry? Depressed? Jealous? When you see an attractive person on social media, do you choose to see them as a human being made in the image of God? Or do you make the decision to objectify and dehumanize them until they’re nothing more than a body to drool over?

What about your achievements and possessions? Are they making you prideful? Or are they moving you to be grateful? When you accomplish something worth celebrating, do you thank God for the gifts and opportunities He’s given you, or do you just think about how awesome you are? When you think about your money and things, do you see them as evidence that you’re better than others, or do you see them as a tool you can use to serve God and help others?

The devil’s favorite buttons to push are our cravings for physical pleasure, cravings for the things we see, and the pride we find in our achievements and possessions. He deceives us with empty promises and half truths that are perfectly crafted to feed into our self-centered desires.

But these things are not from the Father. They promise pleasure, but they rob us of something so much better. By the time they’re done with us, we wind up empty. But God wants us to be full: full of joy, full of life, full of love, full of meaning, full of peace.

And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. 1 John 2:17 NLT

So, what exactly pleases God? The answer: Faith; trust, based on evidence, that produces obedience.

And it is impossible to please God without faith… Hebrews 11:6 NLT

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9 NIV

Faith pleases God. Faith is how we receive God’s grace. We respond to who He is and what He’s done by placing our trust in Him. When we do, God rescues us from sin, repairs our relationship with Him, and restores us as members of His family. As His kids, we have been given eternal life. A life that never ends. And a life that is filled with His love now and forever.

When everything else has passed away, the world and the cravings it offers, God will remain. So reject the temporary temptations of this world, and commit yourself to your King and His Kingdom that never ends.

Application: Think about the desires the devil most often targets when he attacks you. Is it a craving for physical pleasure? Is it a craving for what you see? Is it the pride you find in your achievements and possession? First, name it. You can’t defeat what you don’t define. Then, confess it. Tell the truth to God and your community about what it is. Ask them for prayers and accountability. Finally, repent from it. Put a plan in place that will allow you to eliminate those temptations today so you don’t have to resist them tomorrow.