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DECEMBER: The Victory of Faith

December 4

THE WORLD

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
1 John 2:15-17

That is, perhaps, one of the fullest statements in Scripture of what the New Testament means by this term the world; here John once more comes back to it. He is always very anxious about it, as is every writer in the New Testament. You cannot read the New Testament truly without seeing the whole of the Christian life as a life of conflict; we are in an atmosphere and in a world where there is a great fight going on. There are two kingdoms, the kingdom of light and the kingdom of darkness, and you get these constant comparisons and contrasts. Paul says to the Ephesians, “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places” (or “in the heavenlies”) (Ephesians 6:12). “The world,” says John, “is there the whole time, and the Christian is fighting against it.” So it is of vital importance that we should know what he means by this.

Perhaps the best way of defining what the New Testament means by “the world” is that it is everything that is opposed to God and His Spirit. God calls upon men and women to worship Him and to glorify Him; He calls upon them to live for His glory. There is a famous quotation in the Shorter Catechism of the Westminster Confession that says, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” That is the chief object for which God created us; we are meant to glorify God in every way conceivable.

A Thought to Ponder
We are in a world where there is a great fight going on.

From Life in God, p. 36.




Today’s devo is taken from Walking with God Day by Day © 2003 by Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Crossway Books, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

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Walking with God Archive

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