1 John 2:15-17: Get Set for Eternity
Saturday, December 9, 2023
Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world – wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important – has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out – but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity. (MSG)
We may welcome this news from John the Beloved with eager ears, or we may want to ignore his counsel. In either case, do we not all want to welcome eternity?
The world and everything in it that people desire is passing away; but those who do the will of God live forever. (GNT)
We many want to accuse others of living too much in this world, or we may see ourselves as responding to the lure of quick but temporal satisfaction. In either case, do we not all want to participate in the unending feast?
The world is passing away, along with its desires. But whoever does God’s will remain forever. (CJB)
We may want to declare that the perfection of the kingdom is an impossible dream, or we may be one who testifies to the fact that with God all things are possible. In either case, do we not all want to share eternity with our loved ones?
This world is fading away, and these evil, forbidden things will go with it, but whoever keeps doing the will of God will live forever. (TLB)
We may want to quietly persist on our personal path with Jesus, or we may shy away from inviting others to join us. In either case, do we not all want to prepare for the gift of eternal peace?
When we compare varying translations of these verses, we find The Way to eternal life that John the Beloved assures for us.
The Hubble image above is a 50-light-year-wide panorama of the center of the Carina Nebula, and it shows a region of rapid star birth and death. (NASA and European Space Agency) For more images, visit: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/04/23/science/space/unforgettable-hubble-space-telescope-photos.html?_r=0
The Noontimes 