If you scroll through social media, it is likely you will see people sharing things they are !!LOVING!! So here goes, lately I have been loving having someone else do my nails and then getting compliments on them. I am loving watching home makeover shows and seeing someone get a brand-new, sparkly kitchen after living with a dingy, outdated one. I have also been loving when my four children all sing together in the car when we are driving somewhere. I could go on and on with things in this world that I love, but then, when I look at the verse from 1 John, I wonder if it’s saying I am not supposed to love any of these things? And if I do, then I don’t love God?

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Sometimes the Bible is SO confusing. What we understand in one section seems to be at odds with what we read somewhere else. I have lots of questions on this one (lest you think us Devo writers just know all these things already!) Who is John writing to, and what is he trying to teach them? What is the version of the word love that is used in the original text, and what is meant exactly by “the world.”

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It is generally thought that the apostle John was the writer of the book of 1 John, and he was writing to early Christians, possibly in house churches in Asia Minor. They would have faced many of the same cultural pressures as we do today, navigating how to follow the way of Jesus, which was in sharp contrast to what their neighbors of other religions were doing. John is making the point that we can’t both love the worldly systems that are often rooted in sin, for example corporate greed that causes the exploitation of image-bearers, and love the Father who created people in His image. Other places in Scripture call us to care for the world God gave to us and love the people living here with us (Gen. 2:15, John 13:34).

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The word for “world” in these verses is kosmos, which points to the systems in the world. One online commentary said the world in this case refers to “the values and priorities of a system that is in ‘enmity with God’ (James 4:4) and that leads people away from God.”

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And since Satan is currently ruler of this world, the temptation is to play by his rules, which means letting things like the lust of the flesh, desiring things we shouldn’t with our bodies, lust of the eyes, wanting things that aren’t good for us or don’t belong to us, and pride of life, vanity, greed, and seeking human approval, dictate how we live. We are tempted to succeed in this world by following standards that are not of God. It is everywhere we look, especially on the addictive devices in our hands – selling us things, giving us things to compare with others, ways to make more money, ways to insult and criticize strangers we have never met – the list goes on and on. The goal is to have the love of the Father in us, for it to rule over us and direct how we spend our days. We are to love the world as God did in John 3:16. Not for our own selfish gain, but to point it toward salvation that comes through Christ alone.

If we take a look at some of my “loves” from the beginning of this devo, we can see some ways I could be led astray OR love what God loves. I could become obsessed with my appearance and let vanity rule my life, or I could still get my nails done, but share Jesus with the person sitting across from me for that hour. In watching make-over shows, I could get immersed in keeping up with the Joneses by wanting to improve my house to impress my neighbors, or I could make my door an open one, no matter what my house looks like in order to love my neighbors. Sadly, I could use my children as a way to gain approval from others or start to see their worldly accomplishments as my identity. But my goal is really to love them well in a way that points them to Jesus, knowing any success they experience is from God. Even good things can get twisted when we set our hearts on things that are not of God. We must be ACTIVELY resisting the world (evil desires) so we can live as Jesus did and love the world (the people in it) that he came to save.

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Heavenly Father, help our desire to be to love you above all else. The world we live in tempts us with so many things that are not of you; they don’t draw us closer to your Son. Even good things like our family and friends can become idols we worship if we love them more than you. Please help us, we pray, to follow after you with our whole hearts. Help us to resist “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life” by the power of your Spirit. You have so much goodness for us, Lord, in relationships, so may we not miss it while we are focused on worldly things that don’t matter in your Kingdom . In Jesus’ name, Amen.