Text: 1 John 2:7-17, Hebrews 12:1-3
“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
“Unrivaled: Earnhardt vs. Gordon” is a new documentary that highlights the 90s rivalry between NASCAR legends Dale Earnhardt and Jeff Gordon. Though the drivers were combatants on the track, they were friends outside their cars. The documentary contrasts their family backgrounds, driving styles, paint schemes and fashion sense. But perhaps the most polarizing aspect of their personas was that of their loyal fan bases. The film highlights how it was virtually impossible for fans to love one without hating the other.
As we run our race in life, there are things all around us that rival our relationship with Christ. This imagery is well portrayed by the writer of Hebrews: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1–2 ESV)
This exhortation reminds us that running our race with endurance involves a shedding of things that would hinder our growth, our progress, and our missional influence. Love for God and love for the world cannot coexist.
John wrote: “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.” This passage should not be taken as an extreme rejection of everything in the world, for “God… loved the world” (John 3:16), but rather a warning about attaching ourselves to pursuits, affinities, and idols that would rival our passion for God. John doesn’t demonize God’s whole created order, but gives examples of what a believer should guard against—“the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and the pride of life.”
The world wants our love—that which dictates how we spend our time, our attention, and our money. It rivals God’s call on our lives to seek first His kingdom, to love Him with all of our being, and to serve others in generosity and compassion. Saint Augustine captured the heart of this when he prayed, “He loves thee too little who loves anything together with thee which he loves not for thy sake.”
Is there an affinity in your life right now that is rivaling your love for the Father? Your deliverance from that competitor begins, not so much in the effort of giving up this or that, but in seeing the world through God’s eyes—recognizing that everything opposed to God is under a death sentence. For “the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
The more we fix our eyes on Jesus, the less our affection will be for those things that rival him. We can then say with the psalmist:
Whom have I in heaven but you?
And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever.
(Psalm 73:25-26 NIV)
PRAYER
God, be my portion in this life and the one to come. There is nothing in this world that can compete with you. Let nothing rival my love for you and your kingdom. You have my heart, my vision, and my desires. I am wholly Yours. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Reflection and/or Family Discussion:
- What makes TV commercials and advertisements so appealing?
- Which of these three most clearly motivates the people you know: (1) the drive to meet their physical needs, (2) the drive to get things, or (3) the drive to succeed?
- Why did John tell us not to love the world? (1 John 2:15-17)
- What would you categorize as “the desires of the flesh,” “the desires of the eyes,” and “the pride of life”?
- What in your life might be rivaling your love for the Father today? What steps can you take to find satisfaction in God over the things of the world?
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