Preface to the Study
Love and hate go hand-in-hand together. If you love your spouse, you will hate anything that will harm her. If you love your children, you will hate anything that hurts them. If you love holiness, you will hate sin. Jesus told his disciples, “You cannot love God and riches. For you will love one and hate the other.” So it is with loving the world. Whenever we love the world, our love for our Lord wanes.
It is important that we understand what the “world” is. The term, “world,” is used in three ways in the Bible. First, it refers to the creation. We are to love the world in this sense because “the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” It is His handiwork and we are to rejoice in His creation. Second, it often refers to the people of the world. Here too, we should love the world. “For God so loved the world and sent His only Son.” Likewise, we should love all that we come in contact with for the sake of the gospel. Finally, the Bible speaks of the “world” as a system that is opposed to God. This is what John refers to when he says, “Love not the world.”
The articles in this issue explore the many aspects of what it means to love the world. A. W. Pink’s article, “The Scriptures and the World,” helps to define what the world is and what the Scriptures say about it. The two articles by Richard Baxter provide some practical helps for examining our own lives with regard to our attitude toward the world.
Martin Lloyd-Jones reminds us of the dangers of loving this world rather than laying up treasures in heaven and the article, “Contentment,” by Pink points us toward the one heart attitude that can protect us from the love of the world. The sermon by Spurgeon shows us the victory that we have in Christ that enables us to overcome the world.
We pray that this issue may help you in your walk with the Lord. That it might enable you to be able to identify worldliness in your own life and return to loving the Lord alone with all your heart!
By His Grace, Jim
