Devotions
Rev Gav
Reins
1 John 2.12–17
I am writing to you, little children,
because your sins are forgiven on account of his name.
I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young people,
because you have conquered the evil one.
I write to you, children,
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young people,
because you are strong
and the word of God abides in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world, for all that is in the world — the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches — comes not from the Father but from the world. And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God abide forever.
Reflect
When I was in my early twenties, a fundamentalist friend of mine used this passage to defend his hatred of the world. In his eyes, we could trash this world because, one day, in the future, God was going to make a new one. However, when John wrote that we should not ‘love the world’ he did not mean we should not love God’s creation. The world, in this context, is simply a metaphor for the attitudes and behaviours where God is left out or ignored.
You and I are made in the image of God and we are the pinnacle of creation We are endowed with God-like powers such as discernment and creativity, yet, humans have set themselves against God by denying God’s existence, or worse, admitting the existence of God but putting themselves first, ahead of God. This pride in our own abilities and sense of status means we no longer depend on God and we ignore, at our peril, the fact that without God we would not even exist.
The theologian and philosopher Augustine of Hippo wrote, “To love the world and fail to love God is to be like a bride, who, being given a ring by her bridegroom, loves the ring more than the bridegroom who gave it.”
Through his letters, John urged his readers not to reject the author and creator of the world but see the world through God’s eyes. He wrote, “Those who do the will of God abide forever.” In other words, we should not celebrate our successes whilst ignoring the outcast, and we should not revel in our wealth whilst watching the poor go hungry. In other words, when we put God first, we release ourselves to become conduits of God’s love.
The Christian faith begins with us gaining a right perspective and humbly accepting that we are not God. It means handing back to our heavenly parent the reins we hold over our lives, and once we do this, we are free to be the people God created us to be, to work in tandem with God, and to be God’s bringers of hope to a broken and hurting world.
Photo by José Pablo Domínguez on Unsplash
Pray
(based on 1 John 12-14)
Holy God
Thank you that my
sins are forgiven
in and through your Son.
Thank you that I
know you and that
through Christ
evil has been conquered.
Keep me strong and
let your word abide in me
that I may do your will.
Today and forever.
and then