Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.  The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2:15, 17

The key here, I think, is the use of the word, love.  John pulls out all stops when he shares this advice with us – more than advice, certainly but at least that. It centers on love, what we truly love, what is love-worthy, and so on.  It is not the kind of conversation that we might have as we eat our supper tonight.  It is awesome.

We need to realize that what we love and how much we love controls how deeply we love God and all that stands for in our lives.

John reminds us that all “other loves” than our love for the Lord, passes away.  For a moment they seemed meaningful and probably were for then.  But that love is flighty and ephemeral.

The love that really matters is the love of God, ours to experience because God opened the way for us to see into his heart because of the love of Jesus.

John spares no words.  Whoever does the will of God lives forever.  We should not waste our time trying to turn human love into divine love!  That does not work, at all.  Let’s grab that divine love with our whole hearts.