IMPERMANENT TRANSIENCE

“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. 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. 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

What were John’s first words of caution and counsel to babies and grown-ups in Christ?

BE CAREFUL OF THE WORLD

“The world is too much with us; and soon
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; -…” wrote William Wordsworth in his sonnet, “The World is too much with us”.

The Apostle John was aware of this danger long before Wordsworth wrote his observation. The world not only presses in on us, demanding attention and response, but there is also an eager reply from within us, from that old nature that is closely allied to the alluring temptations from the world.

The way God’s children deal with the world’s offers depends on one thing, the object of our love. Jesus said that we will serve what we love, what masters our affections, God or money.

“No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money.”
Matthew 6:24 NLT

Money symbolises everything the world has to offer because, in the end, money pays for the world’s trinkets, fame, possessions, and achievements.

What is the major problem with the world’s rewards?  Do they not satisfy?  Yes, for a time! Are they not enjoyable?  Yes, for a time!  Are their rewards not real?  Yes, for a time!

However, the real trouble is that worldly fame, pleasure, possessions, and achievements are as transient as the world itself. The world and all its systems are doomed to pass away. Gid has no use for a creation corrupted by sin. His eternal plan is a perfect earth inhabited by perfect people and governed by His perfect Son.

“But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.”
2 Peter 3:10 NLT

God made His promised renewal possible through the sacrifice of His Son, atoning for the sin of the world and bringing about a reversal of everything that went wrong when Adam rebelled.

“But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.”
2 Peter 3:13 NLT

So, says John, if you love the world and all it has to offer, you will join the world and all who love it in the great judgment coming when unrighteousness will be destroyed forever.

Only the power of love for God, motivated by His love for us, will save us from His judgment and preserve us for eternal life.

“This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”
1 John 4:10 NLT

Paul adds the dimension of vision to John’s motivation of love.

“That is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
2 Corinthians 4:16-18 NLT

Hardship and trouble are as transient as the world’s pleasures because they are part of this fallen planet. However, unlike worldly pleasure, hardships don’t pander to the flesh. They serve the purpose of divine discipline, supporting our efforts to subdue the flesh that we might share God’s holiness.

“Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, shouldn’t we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits, and live forever? For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness.”
Hebrews 12:9-10 NLT

Those who follow John’s good counsel discover that God’s will, and not ours, is good, perfect, and acceptable, and that doing God’s will guarantee that we will continue from this transient world to eternal life. We experience eternal life now, in part, but then in eternity, for those who believe in Jesus will never die.