By: Obed Pineda
It is true that we live in a society where love has been confused with tolerance. Today the father who scolds his son is seen as cruel and unfair. According to the world, everyone has the right to “live his life” as they wish; even if it means allowing his life to be wasted. Like Felix, the unbelieving man wants to be bribed with preaching about the love and goodness of God to ease his conscience, but they refuse to hear about the coming judgment and punishment of sin (cf. Acts 24:25-26). Like Balak, when the man of God speaks his word as God wants it to be presented, they get upset and choose to go to a “church” where they are not “judged” (cf. Numbers 24:10-11). This they do, accusing the preacher as the culprit of why they left since “their” preaching of him was “very legalistic.” But such men have always existed, and will exist in every generation. This is why the apostle Paul exhorts “preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers” (2nd Timothy 4:2-3). This was exactly what both Balak and Felix sought to do; they tried to look for men who did their will and not God’s. Because they did this, they became “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:4b). But there is no doubt that this kind of love is superficial and leaves much to be desired; it is, imperfect and transitory. During his life in the world, the Master warned His disciples “Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1). Our Redeemer enlightens us why this form of love is ineffective and imperfect. When we love the world more than God, we are content with the least and show where our trust lies. Let us remember that in this same sermon the Lord instructs “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:21). For this reason, the apostle John instills in us “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 lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever” (1st John 2:15-17). It is wise to understand what the apostle, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is declaring to us in this passage concerning love. First, we see that the apostle is making a comparison between two types of love; the love for the world and the love of the Father. In the comparison, the apostle reveals to us that it is impossible to love the world and the Father simultaneously. In other words, “no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon” (Matthew 6:24). Our Lord Jesus Christ explains to us that love is shown in our service. Therefore, if we serve God we love God; if we serve the world, we love the world. But here is the wise instruction of the Master; we cannot serve God and the world because both are opposed to each other. So, wanting to please the world and God is impossible because what pleases the world displeases God; and what pleases God displeases the world. The reason for this undeniable reality is the second teaching that the apostle John provides us. John says that what the world gives as a reward (the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life) are fleeting and transitory things since “the world is passing away, and the lust of it.” The world does not offer anything eternal or permanent, because it does not have that power to do so. For this reason the apostle Paul emphasizes, “those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be” (Romans 8:5-7). Paul wisely reveals to us that loving this world is demonstrated in the time we dedicate (that is, occupy) to the world. It is for this very reason that the Lord declared that where our treasure is, there our heart will be as well. But, since the affairs of the world are subject to death, of course that this kind of love is incomplete because “love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8a). Since the love that the world offers does have an end, then it can be understood why everyone who loves the world trembles when hearing of a final judgment since “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Here is why to be occupied in the flesh is death! When man leaves his heart here on earth, he comes to imitate the rich fool who was told “‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20-21). There is no doubt that when we love this world it is because we place our trust in the flesh, and we become unaware that there is still a final judgment.