Who Do You Love?
We have been commanded to love one another. If we claim to know God but refuse to obey this primary command John says we are a liar. Pretty strong stuff. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.
Some will go this far in agreement but try to find an out by claiming that certain people are not their brother. Are we only talking about believers here? Are we only talking about believers who believe the same way I do? Are we only talking about people in my church? How about only male children of my parents? That may sound a bit silly but in truth people draw such lines. Why don’t we ask Jesus? “Who is my brother?” If that question has a familiar ring it is because it sounds very much like the question, “Who is my neighbor?” The guy who asked that question did so in an attempt to justify himself. I would suggest that those who need to qualify the term “brother” do so for the same reason.
While we are to love our brother we are to not love the world. What does this mean? God so loved the world that He gave His Son. Yes, but He gave His Son for people. When John speaks of the world here he is talking about a system, not the people in the system.
The system is very simple because it consist of only three things: the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. This is all it has ever consisted of. When the tempter came to Eve with the fruit she saw that it was “good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom.” The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the boastful pride of life. When that same tempter came to Jesus he tempted Him to turns stones into bread - the lust of the flesh. He tempted Jesus to come over to his side by showing Him the kingdoms of the world and offering them to Him - the lust of the eye. He tempted Christ by challenging Him to jump from the Temple and prove who He was by having angels come to catch Him - the boastful pride of life.
Every day we are faced with these three temptations. Every day we are also presented with other people (aka, brothers). Be sure to remember where your love belongs.
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