Our world system is violently opposed to Christ and all He stands for. When the Bible says, "Do not love this world," the word "world" means the depraved culture of the times, the world system that's under the control of Satan. "The whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one," says 1 John 5:19.

Like a discriminating art critic, the old apostle John explained the composition and perspective of the world canvas, warning Christians of three acute dangers (1 John 3:15-17).

The World's Perspective: Desirable
First, he cautioned, the world system is desirable. The word "lust" used in 1 John 2:16 literally means "desire": The desires of the flesh, and the desires of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Pleasure, possessions, and popularity.

The moment you give your life to Jesus Christ, you make a powerful enemy. Satan sets his scope on us, and we're in his cross hairs. These are his three rounds of ammunition. He uses this line of attack against everybody. Whatever the devil is doing to you or to me is some variation of this three-point tactic-the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the pride of life. We need to learn to recognize and avoid it.

Television shows, movies, magazines, trends, styles, affluence, the ladder of success-we must always be cautious, for behind these things may be lurking the lust of unhealthy desire. We must learn to be wary.

The World's Perspective: Dulling
The second danger is that the world is dulling. Our spiritual responses are dulled by pleasure, possessions, and popularity. A prime biblical example is the man named Demas. He is mentioned three times in Scripture. In Colossians 4:14, Paul wrote, "Luke the beloved physician and Demas greet you." In Philemon 24, Paul again sent greetings from Demas, listing him as a fellow laborer. But in 2 Timothy, as the apostle Paul is imprisoned and facing execution, we find him writing these sad words: "Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world" (2 Timothy 4:9-10).

Demas didn't just wake up one day and have a dramatic spiritual breakdown. Something about the world's influences had been dulling his senses without his realizing how close he was to total spiritual collapse.

Sin is like a cancer that destroys step by step, sometimes so slowly we don't realize what's happening to us. In its desirability, we don't realize how it is dulling our spiritual senses. The unsaved person isn't aware of the spiritual dangers that lurk among the desires of the flesh and of the eyes and the pride of life; and sometimes even Christians are deceived. That's why the Bible warns believers against friendship with the world (James 4:4); being spotted by the world (James 1:27); loving the world (1 John 2:15); and being conformed to the world (Romans 12:2).

The World's Perspective: Deadly
That leads to John's third perspective. The world is deadly. Loving the world destroys our relationship with God, it denies our faith in God, and it discounts our future with God. The Bible tells us that one day this whole world is going up in a cloud of smoke. Only two things will prove to be eternal-the Word of God and the people of God. Everything else will pass away. The world and its lusts will fade to black, and only those who do the will of the Father will abide forever.

We're pilgrims and strangers on the earth. There are two worlds, two dimensions, two landscapes. Christians have a foot in each one. We're living in this world system, but we're not of it. We're living by faith in the kingdom of our Lord Jesus, and our citizenship resides there.

I'd rather be moving toward joy than moving away from it, wouldn't you? That's why I've chosen to live my life for the Lord and to walk with Him in fellowship sweet.

The world and its lusts are passing away; but those who do the will of the Father abide forever.

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This article was excerpted from Turning Points, Dr. David Jeremiah's devotional magazine. Call Turning Point at 1-800-947-1993 for your complimentary copy of Turning Points.