Love God's Way, Not the World's Way

On Resurrection’s Wesley Tour, I took a 15-day sabbatical from all news & social media feeds. (I DID check the Delta Airline app for any updates/changes for our return flight; I wasn’t that zealous.) Fortunately, I didn’t miss out on the Travis/Taylor engagement furor, since every Kansas Citian on the cruise suddenly became a modern-day Paul Revere: “Travis & Taylor are engaged!”

Little did I know that my experimental fast was actually a test-run for John’s exhortation in today’s passage: “Do not love the world or anything in the world… the world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”

When John says, ‘Do not love the world,” I don’t think he means you can’t relish a Z-Man sandwich or laugh at the Tim Conway/Harvey Korman dentist sketch from the Carol Burnett Show. * No, John is warning us about what happens when the “stuff” of life starts owning us rather than us owning it.

Perhaps we can test ourselves to see if John might be talking to us. Consider a few examples:

• Is the mood & evaluation of our entire weekend dictated by the success, or lack thereof, of young men or women playing a game? Or is our mood instead set by a leisurely dinner with family/friends or an inspirational worship service or fun small group discussion of faith?
• Do we instantly click on every breathless “Breaking News” update that more than likely is less newsy & more gossipy? Or do we realize that the shelf life of these reports is shorter than that egg salad sitting in the sun on a picnic table at a church potluck? (The maxim is accurate: “Today’s newspapers are tomorrow’s birdcage liners.” Or in modern terminology, “Today’s memes are tomorrow’s, “Huh? What does that even mean?”)
• Do we see an Amazon Prime package on our doorstep & have to pause to think what we purchased? (The “Same-Day-Shipping” sticker just makes it even more awkward.)

So, what might we do to live out John’s challenge?

Consider this example: This past week I was preparing to facilitate a discussion of The Chosen’s episode revolving around Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. The episode played on the idea that the Beatitudes weren’t generic statements, but that Jesus’ pronouncements were based on the real-life circumstances of members of His audience. I found myself going down a rabbit-trail of imagining Jesus speaking to the crowd like this:

• “Blessed are the poor in spirit” was possibly directed by Jesus toward a young person in the crowd who was feeling invisible or like a “spiritual zero” that day.
• “Blessed are those who mourn” was perhaps aimed by Jesus toward someone enduring grief over the break-up of a marriage, a parent’s descent into dementia, or the loss of a loved one.
• “Blessed are the peacemakers” was maybe directed by Jesus toward someone who was tirelessly playing mediator within their marriage, their family, or their community.

As a result of this exercise, I did miss out on a beagle “singing” along with a piano & the 17^th article on “What is Wrong with the Chiefs,” but my mental “To Do” list went from mundane chores to challenging myself to strive to be a blessing to those who Jesus identified as in need of encouragement, support, & love. You know, if John were writing today, he may have noted that while the Tik Toks fade & the Instagram reels are quickly forgotten, the work done for God’s Kingdom will last forever.

To wrap up, even the old Native American adage, “Only the stones are forever,” doesn’t really hold up anymore. In 2026, The Rolling Stones will embark on their farewell tour, “One Last Ride.” (Wow. Now everything, but God, is truly transitory – Editor.)

* For a refresher (or first-time discovery) & a bit of comic-relief, you can watch the Tim Conway/Harvey Korman sketch here.