Proper Attachment

“Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” (1 John 2:15)

We’ve heard the expression that we should be in the world but not of the world. It comes from Christ’s prayer in the garden just before His arrest:

“I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. (John 17:14-18)

The hard part for us is we live IN the world so it is easy to become attached to things here. For many, the answer seems to be to withdraw from the world, and by refusing to be touched and affected by the things of this world feel safer and better Christians, able to live more devoted to Him. That is a false sense of security and not understanding our purpose here.

Jesus has the desire for us to become attached to Him, but not at the expense of detaching from the world. That is not what we were created for. Everything God does, he ultimately does for his name’s sake, for his glory (Psalm 19:1-4, Psalm 23:3, Ezekiel 20:9, Ezekiel 36:22-32, John 8:50, John 12:27-28,John 17:1, Romans 1:5, Romans 11:36, 1 Corinthians 10:31, Colossians 1:15-20). God made our purpose, therefore, to glorify God.

That doesn’t mean we are to privately glorify Him only – our personal time with the Lord is important, but only in the sense of a electric car getting a charge – so that it can fulfill it’s purpose.  For a car, it’s purpose is to be driven. For us, once we have our charge, it is to glorify God in all we do not just sit in the garage feeling good about how filled up we are.

We are to be in the world, in and amongst people, pointing people to Christ. Sometimes we do that with words, other times with actions, and many times by making sure that the words we speak, the actions we do, and our responses to the world around us reflect properly on our Creator.