Print
15 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. 16 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. 17 And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. I John 2:15-17
In December 1997 Julia Hill climbed a giant redwood tree in California. She wouldn’t return to the ground for 738 days. She did this to save a patch of old growth forest from logging. Sometime later, the tree she was sitting in was vandalized by being cut halfway through by a chainsaw. The group “Earth First” treated the wound with herbal remedies and erected steel cable supports so the tree wouldn’t be damaged by winds.
All for a tree that will someday die anyway.
John tells us not to love the things of the world because if we do, the love of God isn’t in us. He tells us the world is a temporary place whereas God is eternal. All the things we fall in love with here on earth have no eternal value and when we give our love to them we take it away from the Father.
Liberal environmentalists are not the only ones who place things in their lives before the Lord. All of us do it to one degree or another. Lust of the eye, lust of the gullet and pride of life work their way into our daily lives, and many times we don’t even notice.
These things are temporary with the pleasure fading, but putting the love of the Lord first gains us everlasting value.
