Chasing the Wind
“Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.” (1 John 2:15-16)
John gives us two things not to love: the world and things the world offers us. Then he explains why we shouldn’t love these two things: because when we love the world we do not have the love of God in us. So, we better not love the world or the things it offers us. What then are the things the world offers us? John explains: craving for physical pleasure, craving for everything you see, pride in achievements, and pride in possessions. So we must ask ourselves: do we love any of these things the world offers us?
The first thing John lists is a craving for physical pleasure. Is that something you love? Is that something you chase after, something you are constantly seeking to satisfy? It can be achieved many ways: we can pervert the nature of sex that God gave us and use it to satisfy this craving; we can abuse food and our bodies in pursuit of this craving. Is the craving for physical pleasure something that you love? The second thing the world offers us is a craving for everything we see. We might call this envy or greed and in today’s day and age it is very easy to crave anything and everything we see. There are online shopping apps with features that let you scan the thing you are seeing so that you can find where to buy it! It’s not just products that we buy either; satisfying that craving for everything you see can easily fall under the category of entertainment. Do you find that you click on any and every show that seems interesting or that you hear everyone else is watching regardless of the content? It is easier now than ever before to satisfy that craving for everything you see, so are you pursuing the satisfaction of that craving?
The third thing John lists as an offering from the world is pride in our achievements. Do you take pride in your job, your degree, or your economic status? Does pride in your achievements fuel your work ethic, to work longer hours to earn more money to gain more achievements or own more possessions? John lists a pride in possessions as another offer this world will give us. Do you take pride in the size or location of your house? What kind of car you drive or smartphone you use? These are all things of this world. Not just the things themselves but the cravings for them are what the world offers.
“And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever.” (1 John 2:17)
All this stuff, all those things you crave—physical pleasure, things you see, pride in your achievements and possessions—John says they are fading away. Present tense—as in, they are currently fading away. Since the world is fading away, the pursuit of these things, of satisfying these cravings, is a futile one. Chasing after the things of a world that is fading away is what King Solomon called “chasing the wind.”
“I observed everything going on under the sun, and really, it is all meaningless—like chasing the wind.” (Ecclesiastes 1:14)
If we continue to pursue this world and its offerings, we will come to the same conclusion as the wisest man who ever lived. This world and its offerings are fading away and to pursue them would be like chasing the wind. The world is temporary but God is eternal. John wrote that anyone who does what pleases God will live forever. The world and its offerings is not all there is. We can either pursue this world or we can pursue God. Jesus posed the question in Mark 8:36: “And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul?” Will you spend your life walking with our Lord or chasing the wind?
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
—Redeemed
