Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 January 1918 — Love of the World and Love of the Father [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Love of the World and Love of the Father

By REV. JAMES M. GRAY, D.D.

-* Deanqf Moody BbUlmtituM, Chicago

TEXT—Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the prlde**of life, is not of, the father, but is of the world. And the world away, and the lust thereof; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.—l John 2:15-17. By the word “world” the Inspired writer no doubt means everything

that is opposed to God, everything within the sphere of our existence considered as in the kingdom of sin. We are not to love these things, for to love is to surrender oneself, and the creature who surrenders himself to the word is ruined by it ■ If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not in

him; in other words, we. cannot love God and love the world at the same time. Of course, there is a Jroper regard for the world which we may have; a regard for the beauty and perfection of God’s wprks, for the achievements of science or the acquisition of wealth, or personal Influence, but it is where the regard for these things Intrenches upon our love for the Author and Giver of them that its wrongfulness and calamity appear. Suppose you were to receive two let* ters 'from different friends, each saying that he would visit you at the same day and hour. And suppose they were so uncongenial to each other that It would be embarrassing aid. injudicious to permit them to*meet, what would you do? To one or the other you must excuse yourself, Which shall it be? Other matters aside, It will be the one you love least.

So there comes a time in the life of each of us when we‘ |hear the Father of our spirits knocking at our door and asking to come in and be our .guest. The god of this world is already in the enjoyment of our hospitality, but now we must decide whom we shall choose. The Word tells us that we are not to love the world because all that is in the world is not of the Father. And now it is explained just what is meant. Three things are named: "the lust of the flqsh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.” "Lust” in this case refers to an/ passion or propensity of, the heart for forbidden things, or even for proper things when Indulged in overmuch. The “lust of the flesh” pertains to the gratification of the grosser bodily appetites; the "lust of the eyes,” the covetous desire for the things of others, and the “pride of life” points to arrogance and boasting. Nor are these three great principles of worldly-mindedness named at random, for at least twice before do they appear together in the Bible, first in the temptation of Eve In the garden' of Eden and second in the temptation of Christ tn the wilderness. Read carefully the third chapter of Genesis and the fourth of Matthew for the evidence of this. But not only are these things incompatible with the love of the Father, but they are further argued against On the ground of their fleetness, for “the world passeth away and the lust thereof.” • A mysterious curse wastes down and wears out all man’s workmanship, and it is the same even with the physical creation. Seas and shores are continually changing places, and fountains and rivers are drying up. Many ages pass before the eye in the course of a half-hour’s reading of history, and the duration of an Alexander or a Caesar is but the affair of a few moments. Not only does the world pass away, but the lust thereof. We sicken of the world in time. The evil days come, and the years draw nigh when we say: "I have no pleasure in them.” Daniel Webster, in the sunset hours of his distinguished life, said to his biographer: “I care no more about politics than a jackdaw that sits on top of St. Paul’s,” and then he quoted Cowper’s lirifes:

He sees that this great round-about. The world, with all Its motley rout. Church, army, physic, law. Its customs, and its businesses, Are no concerns at all of his, And says. What says be T—“ Caw!” ■ “Oh, who wishes to seize and hold that as an object of his supreme desire which is doomed and perpetual defeat? Is there not a more excellent way? Is there nothing we can love and lean upon when these things of earth are vanishing like a spectre from our sight? Yea, answers the apostle: “He that doeth the will of God abldeth forever.” These were almost the last words of D. L. Moody, the great evangelist and the great educator of Christian youth. They are inscribed upon Ms tombstone. They are suspended in a golden frame over the mantel in the room made sacred by Ms presence in the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Hundreds of young and old pass through that room every year and gaze upon those words, and- gain new inspiration and new direction for their Uvea foe them. God grant it to some of yog. j