seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 John 2:12 I am writing to you, dear children,
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
13 I am writing to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I am writing to you, young men,
because you have overcome the evil one.
14 I write to you, dear 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 men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
because you know the Father.
I write to you, fathers,
because you know him who is from the beginning.
I write to you, young men,
because you are strong,
and the word of God lives in you,
and you have overcome the evil one.
15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.
I would suggest you follow along with the commentary. Here's a sample of the clarification it can bring.Do not love the world: That is, we are not to love either the world’s system or its way of doing things. There is a secular, anti-God or ignoring-God way of doing things that characterizes human society, and it is easy to love the world in this sense.
Notice what the world wants from us: love. This love is expressed in time, attention, and expense. We are encouraged and persuaded to give our time, attention, and money to the things of this world instead of the things of God.
If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him: Simply, love for the world is incompatible with love for the Father. Therefore, if one claims to love God and yet loves the world, there is something wrong with his claim to love God.
The world is passing away: This reveals the folly of worldliness. What we invest into the world we invest into what cannot last because the world is passing away. As we saw with the example of the tower of Babel, the world never wins out against God, though by some appearances it does.
If I told you I wouldn't mind dying, would you think I am suicidal? Oh, it's ok to say "yep" because I think I am suicidal. Since I lost my eye, my vision, I ask God to take me. The problem is, I'm a coward. I don't want to leave my husband or my kids behind. They will miss me. I don't want them to be that sad, while I'm feasting on the banquet waiting in Heaven. I don't want Jesus to say, "Rebecca, you asked for death even though you knew you had more work to do, and for that I find you guilty." What scares me about death, is knowing that some of my family and friends will be turned away at the gate. Some of them have always figured I'm insane over my "religion", as they call it. Not "faith", mind you, "religion". I'm not scared of death. I have faith enough to say, "I don't really care". If it's peace I'll find in death, let the time be near. [Yep, it's from a song]
I remember the grief President Jimmy Carter suffered when he confessed to breaking the Commandments. He confessed he had lusted after another woman. He said to think those lusty thoughts is a sin. Unlike President Bill Clinton who claimed to never have "inhaled" to prove his innocence, Jimmy Carter fessed up to his shortcomings. Bill Clinton was interested in what the "world" would think. Jimmy Carter wanted a clear conscience. Even though he is a rich man, Jimmy Carter is showing Christian Faith. He confesses lust got him... and he's contrite about it. He doesn't turn it into locker room fodder.
I think John is saying... be more like the guy who is unapologetic about his faith... not like the guy who searches for the loophole in Salvation.
There's a fine line, it seems, between looking forward to Heaven and being Suicidal.
I would label myself Suicidal, so that I can work through being half blind and stuck in this house constantly... but I'm really just hanging on until Jesus says "it's ok, you can come home now".
I'm not really Suicidal, I am just longing for Heaven.
