Who Do You Love?

Written on 05/19/2021
Christian Dunn

Verse: 1 John 2:15-17

15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Thoughts
Have you ever loved two things that contradict each other? I love ice cream. But I also really love to be healthy. If I pursue one, I won't really get the other as much as I'd like.  (I love ice cream A LOT.)

An ancient author of Christianity once said that we need to "order our affections." That what we suffer from is "disordered affections." In other words our love for God isn't in first place. It's in second, or third, or.......tenth?

Imagine a ranking of the things you love in a list. And the higher up the list, the more time and effort you put into it. You don't have unlimited time and effort. So if something is tenth on the list, it doesn't get much attention does it?

Are we spending too much time doing what we want instead of doing what God wants? Are we pursuing physical pleasure, enjoyment, and entertainment above our pursuit of God? Are we loving our phones more than we love God? I have to tell you, I am SO easily distracted by my phone that I often have to leave it somewhere else (in another room!) while I read the Bible. 

It is so easy for our love for pleasure, reputation, getting ahead, success, popularity, and just plain old doing what we want, to rise above our love for God and his ways. Let today be a chance for you to re-evaluate. Think about the ordering of your affections. Are they in the order you want them to be? Are you living your life on purpose, or on accident? And then make healthy choices to put God first in your life!

Prayer
God I want to want you more. Please capture my heart, and help me to order my affections in a life giving way!