3. Misplaced Love

I John

2:15-24

15 Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, are not from the Father, but are from the world.
17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.
18 Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour.
19 They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us.
20 But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know.
21 I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and no lie is of the truth.
22Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.
23Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.
24As for you let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.”
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This is not a prohibition against loving God’s creation and the people who inhabit it; it is a warning not to love worldly things rather than heavenly things. “Keep seeking the things above, where Christ is....Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth” (Col.3:1, 2). We will all have our mindset; we must each decide what it will be. There is a very good reason for this teaching: “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”

“All that is in the world” falls into three categories – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” These are the areas in which we are tempted and in which we either resist and stand or yield and fall. This was so in the case of Adam and Eve in the Garden, Jesus in the desert, and the rest of us when we are tempted, wherever we are. Whatever gets your attention gets your mind. And whatever gets your mind gets you. “The world is passing away, and also its lust; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

We hear a lot about the antichrist coming in the last days. What does John say about this? He said that he and his generation were living in the “last hour,” and that the antichrist was coming, just as many antichrists had already appeared. These were the ones who separated from the apostles and went out on their own. They were called “antichrists” because they were opposed to Christ, rejecting Him rather than accepting Him as believers do. If you have an anointing from God you know these things, while those who have not the anointed are speculating and concoct theories, which they use to persuade their followers. You must rely on John and come out of the world to go with Christ.

If you truly believe that God, Christ and the Holy Spirit abide in you, you also abide in the Father and in the Son. Don’t ever forget this truth. You don’t have to guess about your relationship with the Holy Trinity, just exercise your faith as a follower and you will have all the evidence you will need. You will know whether you are in the word of in Christ, whether you love is true or misplaced.