Enjoy God

1 John 2:15-17 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world –  the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
 
JOHN instructs the church to avoid the world and everything in the world. It’s a difficult mandate, isn’t it? We must deal with the world. And isn’t the world God’s creation he called, “Good”? In the good world, God placed a beautiful, bountiful garden with trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food (Genesis 2:9). Then God gave good work to the man to work it and take care of it (Genesis 2:15b).
   Throughout the ages, the earth has been the source for all forms of plant and animal life. Even more, God so loved the world he gave his only begotten Son (John 3:16a). And the psalms declare the earth is the Lord’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. (Psalm 24:1) How, then, do we connect John’s warnings to God’s good creation?  
   Scripture also declares the devil roams the earth (Job 2:2).  John summarizes the world’s sin with three categories: 1) the cravings of sinful man 2) the lust of his eyes 3) the boasting of what he has and does.
   These are still Satan’s weapons against our relationship with God today. The world is consumed with the cravings of sinful men. This is understood to be physical pleasure and sexual desire. All things in our world seem to focus on ways to enjoy these pleasures. Look to the world’s unsatisfied appetite for more of these things, and you will know there is no peace and no real pleasure when our desires lead us into destruction.
   John then warns against the lust of his eyes. How often we are attracted by what we see. Excessive desire for material possessions distorts our priorities. We become fixed on having more than we need simply because it looks attractive. Our time and work become devoted to gathering things. We have little time and energy available to develop lasting relationships with family and friends. Too much time pursuing our desires is too little time to spend with Jesus.
   These possessions can lead to John’s third warning against the boasting of what he has and does. Our possessions can lead to a prideful arrogance toward people who have less. We place our value on the things and forget our value is in bearing the image of God.
   God has created us to desire him. If we desire the things of this world, we will miss the will of God for our lives. His will is that we love God, love others and glorify his name. When we put God at the center of our lives, we will know he is our pleasure. We will have all we need for joy and happiness.