David Yarbrough
1 John 2:15 (CSB)
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.
One of our greatest struggles in Kingdom living is when our God-given desires go haywire on us. We see this in the battle between agape love and lust. These two contrasting foes are constantly waging war within our souls.
Agape is a term rooted in biblical Greek that speaks of the highest form of love. A love that is self-sacrificing, self-denying, and driven by a godly affection that reflects the love of Christ. Love is something that comes naturally to us; it is a God given characteristic that is designed to bind our hearts to Him and to each other in healthy ways. But we have a force opposing love that is powerful and inherently destructive, known as lust. It is the fleshly desire that, when left unchecked, will lead us away from our Kingdom purpose onto a path of pain and self-destruction.
In 1 John 2:15, the Apostle John says that if we love the world, then the love of God the Father is not in us. This is a strong accusation that points to the absolute opposition between the kingdom of this world and the Kingdom of God (Col. 1:13). And how we can really love them both at the same time. If our affections are given to one, then the other has no place in our hearts.
This agape love that John is talking about belongs only in the Kingdom of God. It is a Kingdom parameter that defines how people love in the Kingdom. The enemy of your soul wants nothing more than for you to love yourself above everything and everyone around you. And your flesh (sin nature) and the world system you live in are in agreement with the enemy of your soul. Simply put, when we love the world, it puts our soul at odds with our love for God and sets our lives on a path of self-destruction.
The devil is a master at counterfeiting all the good things of God. He has developed a counterfeit for agape, and it is lust.
1 John 2:16 (CSB)
For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world.
Lust is desire gone haywire. It is driven by our natural desires but is based on how we feel in the moment. Lust is like fire; if it is not quenched, it will consume everything in its path. It blinds us to everything good in the Kingdom of God and lures us away to everything destructive in the kingdom of darkness. Once it takes root in our hearts, it weakens our resolve to resist temptation and, in time, weakens our body and pollutes our soul. Lust is a poison that contaminates our spiritual lives; it is a perversion of love that seeks its own desires at the expense of others; it seeks its own satisfaction with no regard to the destruction it leaves in its path. When a person gives in to lust, they essentially surrender their souls to the devil's grip, forsaking everything good and holy about the Kingdom of God.
We must pray for the Holy Spirit to give us the desire, will, and fortitude to resist and overcome lust and all its works. This will only happen when we cultivate a deep and intimate relationship with God. When we truly experience the agape love of God that transforms our hearts, then the lust of the flesh will become utterly sinful in our hearts and minds. We will always be prone to the lust of the flesh and, in essence, be in love with the world until we have experienced life-transformation via the love of God. So we must pray and ask the illuminating work of the Holy Spirit to search our hearts and reveal where our love and affections are residing. Either we drift with the currents of the world by its lust, or we are led into the Kingdom by the unconditional, unparalleled agape love of Jesus.