Today’s reading is 1 John 2.
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. For all that is in the world-the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life-is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.
1 John 2:15-17
From the time we were very young children, we were already being shown through commercials, advertisements, and all the world around us that the desires of flesh, eyes, and pride of life as John calls it are what’s most important. As many of us reading this being parents ourselves now, we do not do this intentionally and purposely teach our children to want and prioritize the wrong things, but it is a part of the world we live in and we are so inundated in it..we don’t even realize it. I’m not even going to list the ways I do this and model this wrongly for my children because it is almost too painful and shameful to do so.
On the flip side, Jesus is the standard. He did not love the world but instead prioritized the Father and His mission first. John plainly tells us if we say we love and follow Jesus then we must live differently the way He did.
Whoever says, “I know him, but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps His word in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in Him; whoever says he abides in Him ought to walk in the same way in which He walked.
1 John 2:4-6
If we say we know and love God, then we must live and act differently and not as the world and everyone else does. So, I ask myself, do I? Am I modeling the way He lived? Am I becoming, or even attempting, to be more like Him?
1 Peter 1:14-1 also echoes these instructions…
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Again, Jesus is the standard. We will fall short which is why 1 John 2:2 says He is “the propitiation for our sins.” And yet these verses tell us we are called to not live as the world teaches but to live as He lived.
Let us ask ourselves today, what is one thing I can change right now in how I live which will move me closer to being more like Him instead of the world?