1John 2:15 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world...
This is a very wide sentence. It stretches forth a hand of vast grasp. It places us, as it were, upon a high mountain, and it says to us, "Look around you — there is not one of these things which you must love."
It takes us, again, to the streets of a crowded city—it shows us shop windows filled with objects of beauty and ornament—it points us to all the wealth and grandeur of the rich and noble, and everything that the human heart admires and loves [Rev. 18:12,13]. And having thus set before us, it says, "None of these things are for you. You must not love one of these glittering baubles — you must not touch one of them, or scarcely look at them, lest, as with Achan, the golden wedge and the Babylonish garment should tempt you to take them and hide them in your tent [Jos. 7:21]."
The precept takes us through the world as a mother takes a child through a bazaar—with playthings and ornaments on every side — and says, "You must not touch one of these things."
In some such similar way the precept would, as it were, take us through the world — and when we had looked at all its playthings and its ornaments, it would sound in our ears — "Don't touch any one of them; they are not yours — not for you to enjoy, not for you even to covet!" [Ps. 119:36]
Can anything less than this be intended by those words which should be ever sounding in the ears of the children of God — "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world"?* - J.C. Philpot (1802-1869)
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*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. 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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" 1John 2:15-17
This is a very wide sentence. It stretches forth a hand of vast grasp. It places us, as it were, upon a high mountain, and it says to us, "Look around you — there is not one of these things which you must love."
It takes us, again, to the streets of a crowded city—it shows us shop windows filled with objects of beauty and ornament—it points us to all the wealth and grandeur of the rich and noble, and everything that the human heart admires and loves [Rev. 18:12,13]. And having thus set before us, it says, "None of these things are for you. You must not love one of these glittering baubles — you must not touch one of them, or scarcely look at them, lest, as with Achan, the golden wedge and the Babylonish garment should tempt you to take them and hide them in your tent [Jos. 7:21]."
The precept takes us through the world as a mother takes a child through a bazaar—with playthings and ornaments on every side — and says, "You must not touch one of these things."
In some such similar way the precept would, as it were, take us through the world — and when we had looked at all its playthings and its ornaments, it would sound in our ears — "Don't touch any one of them; they are not yours — not for you to enjoy, not for you even to covet!" [Ps. 119:36]
Can anything less than this be intended by those words which should be ever sounding in the ears of the children of God — "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world"?* - J.C. Philpot (1802-1869)
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*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. 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. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" 1John 2:15-17
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Love Of The World Reveals An Unregenerate Heart - J.C. Philpot
1 comment :
Thank you. Very good.
Joy
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