No, this is not a post regarding a New Year’s resolution dilemma related to your body weight, it is hopefully much weightier than that.
There are undoubtedly many challenging passages in the Bible that we gloss over when reading, without really considering the truth that is being revealed or the command that is being given and how we are to apply it to our life. Many of these passages come directly from the lips of Jesus, such as Matthew 10:34 where Jesus reveals, “Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword”, or Mark 10:21, where He says to the rich young ruler who inquires of Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life, “…. Go your way, sell whatever you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, take up the cross, and follow Me.”
One of the most challenging passages that comes from the lips of Jesus, however, is found in John 12:25, where He states quite pointedly, “He who loves his life will lose it and he who hates his life in this world will gain eternal life. He speaks this in the context of approaching the end of His life in this world as a man, where in just a few days He will willingly suffer on a Roman cross the wrath of God due all mankind for their sin, so that all who come to hate their life in this world would not perish in Hell in the world to come but receive the gift of eternal life. (Mark 10:45) (John 10:18) (John 3:16).
The Bible, particularly the New Testament clearly indicates in a number of passages in addition to John 12:25, that there is something deeply, significantly and fundamentally wrong with this present world and the way we live our lives in it, at least in the eyes of God, as we are told in Galatians 1:4 that it is a world that Jesus came to deliver us from. And thus, it would appear that if we ignore such passages – we ignore them to our eternal peril.
In 1 John 2:15-17 the Apostle John writes, “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 lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
In James 4:4, Jesus’ half-brother James writes, “Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.
The term world in each of the passages above includes the planet we live on and all that occurs on it, but refers primarily to a society of people in relationship with one another who are organized around a set of standards, values, ideologies and objectives that govern them and their relationships with one another in their pursuit of their safety/security, happiness and wellbeing.
In Galatians 1:4, the Apostle Paul uses the term evil to describe this present world or age. The term evil in the Bible represents that which opposes or contradicts God’s order and design for human flourishing and individual happiness in Him.
This present evil world or age that Jesus came to deliver us from, can be summarily described in this way; A man-centered, pride driven, satanically controlled system of relationships and institutions that are governed by our sinful lusts for possessions (lust of the eyes), pleasure (lust of the flesh), power, popularity and fame (pride of life) that are pursued in opposition to God for the achievement of our own personal and private happiness, independent of God.
As such, it is a world perishing under the wrath and judgment of God (1 John 2:17) (Romans 1:18); a world that will one day be obliterated along with everything men and women lusted after in it; men and women who will at that time be banished forever to the cosmic prison the Bible refers to as Hell or the Lake of Fire (2 Peter 3:10-12) (Psalm 9:17) (Matthew 25:31-46).
This stands in stark contrast and opposition to the world God created in the beginning and called very good, a world in which man was to live in intimate communion with God, finding our greatest joy, our greatest pleasure, our greatest satisfaction in knowing, loving and being loved by God and one another, a glorious world that one day will be restored at Jesus’ second coming, a world that will be populated by those who hated their lives in this world (Genesis 1:31) (Revelation 21:1-7).
That world can be summarily described in this way; As a God-centered, righteousness driven, Holy Spirit controlled system of institutions and relationships that are governed by the love of God, through the law of God (in our hearts), for the glory of God and for the eternal joy, pleasure, and satisfaction of God’s people in Him (Psalm 16:11) (2 Peter 3:13).
What does it mean to love the world and our life in the world? I would suggest we consider at least the following as evidences of our love for this world that can lead to our eternal demise:
- We are comfortable with it – feel at home in it – want to be accepted, even acclaimed by it – and want to remain in it as long as we can.
- We identify ourselves with its ideals and values, believe and promote its philosophies on what is necessary for human flourishing and our individual happiness, and go along with its changing passions and fashions.
- We gladly/blindly/passionately/selfishly give our time and money to the fulfillment of our God given needs and desires for love, joy, pleasure, significance, security, and happiness in this world’s counterfeit joys, cheap thrills, muted pleasures and mind dulling entertainments; in its deceitful riches and clever inventions that perish with the using; in its temporal comforts, exploitive relationships and distorted versions of love that it offers in place of loving and being loved by God and one another, as well as in the fleeting fame and illusions of power pursued by so many.
Thus, we have no real time for God, no real desire for intimacy with His person, no real energy or passion for pursuing His plan and purposes for our life; only time and energy, interest and affections for the things, relationships and activities that cause us to love our life in this world.
Jesus speaks to this fatal attraction to this world and the things of the world in Mark 8:34-38, where He asks this sobering question – what does it profit a man/woman if they gain everything this world says will make them happy and lose their soul – lose forever the glorious life with God for which we were created?
So then, what might Jesus mean when He calls us to hate our life in this world so that we may gain eternal life? I will address this in my next post.
Grace and Peace ×
✝️ ?