As far as “commands to obey” go, I’m guessing it’s pretty well known among believers. Probably among the first we learned when first we were coached on what it means to die to self, take up the cross, and follow Jesus. That if I had decided to follow Jesus, then “the cross before me” meant I was prepared to give my back to “the world behind me”. Taught early on that, while we were still in the world, we were not of the world and so, we shouldn’t love the world.

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 everything in the world ​— ​the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one’s possessions ​— ​is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.

(1John 2:15-17 CSB)

I look at the western church today, and though I am a big fan of her, I can’t help but feel that, at least in some ways, the world has co-opted her. While in many ways she’s maintained her distinctives from the world, in other ways she seems sometimes way too dialed in to the world. And I wonder if it’s because when we learned this verse way back when, we were quick to talk about the things in the world which we were not to love, and the things we were not to do, but weren’t as aware or laser-focused on the ways of the world we should not adopt. That we were so quick to create a list of behaviors to avoid that we weren’t picking up on the list of beliefs we should guard against.

Beliefs like “expressive individualism”, that a relentless focus on being me is best for me, rather than the belief that I thrive when I am functioning within community and submitting to the family to which I belong. Beliefs like, in order to be salt and light, we need to do all we can to maintain a moral majority rather than fulfill our remnant call as a prophetic minority. Beliefs like, in order for the mission to make it, we need to have our own brand of celebrities to lead it. Beliefs like, in order to stand firm, we need to take a “might is right” approach rather than take Jesus at His word and that the meek really will inherit the earth.

Do not love the world. Do not agape the world.

I see that word, agape, and immediately I think do not sacrificially love the world. But probe the word agape a bit and, at its core, it’s about love based on what is esteemed rather than love founded on affection. A response to what one highly regards. A reaction to what is ighly valued. So, when examining whether or not I’ve been drawn into loving the world, though my behaviors may be far from the world’s, I might want to test how my beliefs about living in the world may have been influenced by the world.

Not sure I’m making sense here. But what I think I’m trying to say is that, if we really want to be on guard against loving the world, perhaps we need to be examining our ways of engaging the world rather than just evaluating our works against the world’s.

Only by His grace. Always for His glory.