Defining words and taking God seriously

“Whoever controls the definitions controls the argument.” 

Don’t know who said it, but this often applies in many situations. In a difference of opinion with someone last month, I realize that we were not talking about the same thing because we held different definitions of one key word. No one came out the ‘winner’ of the debate because we were discussing two different things!

This easily happens in theological conversations. For instance, at least one phrase in this passage could be translated two ways giving two variations in how to view what it says and how to apply it.

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. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15–17)

Here the phrase is “pride of life” with the ‘pride’ part being easy. It means “a false pride, a self-exalting, self-absorbed conceit of one’s own superiority; especially one that believes that all achievements are of their own doing.”

The more difficult term is that little word “life” which can be taken two ways. It literally means “livelihood or the financial means whereby one lives. However, in this context it can also mean the state of existence where I am proud and patting myself on the back about anything, not just how I make my living, but how I cook, or look, or do anything, even Bible study. Thus it could have the narrow meaning or the broader one. Most translations and theologians look at the context and conclude it is not just being proud of my job.

Christians think of loving the world as ‘worldliness’ and include in that problem the desires of the flesh and the eyes. This isn’t too hard to figure out. My flesh is that old sinful nature that ‘wants what I want when I want it’ and know that this sinfulness eventually will pass away, giving in to wanting the will of God instead. I usually interpret this as a desire for comfort that can keep me from obedience. If God wants me to do something that takes me out of my ‘comfort zone’ then this desire in my flesh will resist doing His will.

The desire of the eyes is craving what I can see, a greedy, I-want-it-all attitude that puts me in bondage to stuff. I’m already convicted about this one. I just checked my email and there was a notice of a fabric sale from an online supplier that I’ve used in the past. I have enough fabric to last the rest of my life but was immediately taken with some of the sale items. This bit of Scripture has me thinking twice about buying more stuff that I don’t need.

Back to that ‘pride of life’ thing. Is it all kinds of pride, or limited to pride in the way I make my living? I cannot narrow my interpretation just because of the word for ‘life’ that it uses because the rest of the Bible will not let me. Two examples come to mind:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:13–17)

Making plans without considering the will of God is a boast in myself, an arrogance. This passage uses the same word for false pride that is in the one from 1 John 2. This is bad enough, but another that uses this concept is this strong warning . . .

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. (2 Timothy 3:1–5)

Here the idea of false pride and arrogance describe those who have no use for God at all. These are worldly people through and through. This and other passages tell me that I cannot limit this command about loving the world. It goes beyond pride in how anyone is making a living and includes pride in anything, thinking that all that I have and do is my doing and leaving the grace of God out of it.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

Lord Jesus, I know that being comfortable, having possessions, and making a good living are not evil. The evil is in making those things more important than loving You and doing Your will. Sometimes the choices are obvious but more often they are subtle, distracting. I need the Holy Spirit to keep me focused on what lasts forever rather than the stuff that will pass away. Grant me a strong perception today of Your will and of the temptations from the world and my fleshy pride.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- God exposes the subtle sins.

- this life and this world will pass away — there is more to come.

- the answered prayer record of our little group of prayer warriors.

- yesterday and today felt like spring not November.

- the gift of Christian sisters.

- the gifts of music and of laughter.

Love it but don’t love it . . . ?

“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. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15–17)

God “so loved the world” that He sent Jesus to die for us, yet God tells us “love not the world” using the same Greek word (kosmos). What is going on here? This is a contradiction? Or not?

Context is important in comprehension. If I say “bark” no one knows what I mean without knowing if I am talking about a tree or talking to a dog. If I say I love pizza and I love my mother, the context reveals two different kinds of love. It is the same with the above concept. God loves the world meaning the people of this planet which I am also to love. However, I am not to love the world meaning the system of thinking that is common to those who live here because that kind of love is not from God.

The world’s system of thinking is described as two desires capped with pride. The first one is the desires of the flesh that easily rule those who disobey God . . . “among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.” (Ephesians 2:3)

These passions can be obvious like sexual lust and cravings for bodily comfort but also subtle, referring to anything that takes my heart and motivations away from Jesus. God says, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (Romans 13:14)

The desires of the eyes are related to possessions and power. The Old Testament writer says, “When goods increase, they increase who eat them, and what advantage has their owner but to see them with his eyes?” (Ecclesiastes 5:11)

I am at a stage of life where I want to eliminate all but what is necessary. Declutter. Purge. Simplify. What once gave me pleasure just to have and look at no longer matters in the same way. Part of that feeling might be my sense that time is short . . .

“This is what I mean, brothers: the appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none, and those who mourn as though they were not mourning, and those who rejoice as though they were not rejoicing, and those who buy as though they had no goods, and those who deal with the world as though they had no dealings with it. For the present form of this world is passing away.” (1 Corinthians 7:29–31)

Another reason for wanting to remove all clutter is that it makes it easier to focus on the will of God. He often uses this verse to tell me to watch my thoughts:

“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.” (Romans 12:2)

The pride of life is almost self-explanatory. What fuels boasting in my heart and in my words? Whatever it is, that is worldly, a love of the world, my sinful effort to point to me instead of pointing to and glorifying God. To that, He warns me:

“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. “(James 4:4)

Tozer says, “The spirit of the world is incompatible with the spirit of the gospel. It is the spirit of pride, and not humility—of self-indulgence rather than self-denial. Riches, honors and pleasure form the great object of pursuit.” I’m not to be like worldly people but instead put all these desires to death, keeping my mind and heart focused on the will of God.

^^^^^^^^^

Jesus, I’m fully aware that this world is passing away. Even the daily news describes its death throes. Thank You for salvation and for working on the way I think — I have no intention of going down with it.

Who or what I worship is at the root of what I do

In the Old Testament, the people intermittently worshiped and served God. They easily strayed from being single-minded into worshiping idols and serving them or themselves. One of the most telling narratives is their decision to have a king. They pressed the prophet Samuel until he appointed Saul to rule over them. However, he repeatedly told them this was their folly . . .

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I brought up Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and from the hand of all the kingdoms that were oppressing you.’ But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us’ . . .”  (1 Samuel 10:18–19)

This rejection of God to serve a king takes an interesting twist in the New Testament. When the devil tested Jesus, “he took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’” (Matthew 4:8–9) Today, the same test happens repeatedly. What will the people of God worship?

Someone described worship as that which I think about and honor the most. This is a convicting definition for I know how much I have trusted myself, my ideas, my own judgment rather than seeking the will of God and trusting Him and His Word. This is heighted by passages like this one:

“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. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” (1 John 2:15–16)

Anytime I’ve put my own desires over God’s will, I’ve ceased to worship Him. Anytime I’ve sought what makes me look good, or what gives me reason to pat myself on the back, I’ve ceased to worship God. Jesus is clear about that; I cannot love the things of the world and claim to love and serve God. The two are incompatible. Further, the temptation of Christ shows where that notion comes from:

Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” (Matthew 4:10)

The enemy of my soul tried to lure Jesus with ‘the things of this world’ — and he will and has done the same to me.

In today’s devotional, Tozer says worship takes precedence over work. That is, if my worship slides into things of the world, then what I do for the Lord will be flawed. If I fall before the idol of self-rule, or fleshy desires, or pride, or anything but the Spirit of God, then any service will smack of me, myself and I at the very least. At the worst, it will be demonic.

This is serious stuff. Jesus makes worship the root of service. Worship of idols continually ruined Israel and put them into bondage. Worship of the world and all its goodies continually puts Christians in danger and in bondage. I’m not to value my comfort over exalting and glorifying God. I’m not to value what I want or what makes me look good over the will of God — even if His will puts me in the shadows or causes me to be misunderstood and rejected. Worship means bowing before Him, who He is and what He desires. It is never about me or what makes me feel good. It might even involve great sacrifice — for that is where worship eventually led Jesus.

That the temptation comes from the devil (and not just my self-centered mind) is helpful in wanting to combat it, but discomforting. Instead of yielding to God, too often I’ve not resisted the devil — often because I didn’t recognize who it was that was coming at me.

^^^^^^^

Jesus, You are my Savior. Over and over You have rescued me from the clutches of the devil, even when I didn’t realize he had me in his clutches. As I worship today, may You be the only focal point. If anything threatens to push You off the throne of my heart, may I recognize and rebuke the enemy of my soul.