The Scriptures and the World. By Arthur Pink.

1 John chapter 2 verse 15. Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

One of the most searching tests of whether we are truly profiting from the Word is this. What effect is it having on my relationship to the world? The Word of God calls believers to a path of separation, a separation not of physical distance, but of moral distinction. The same grace that brings salvation also teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly passions.

The man who profits from Scripture is the man who learns to view the world as God views it, ensnaring, wicked, fleeting, and hostile to Christ. The world is not neutral. It is at enmity with God. It lies in the power of the evil one. Its pleasures are deceitful and damning. Its philosophies are godless. Its aims are selfish.

The cross of Christ is the great divider, and the believer, being crucified with Christ, is also crucified to the world. To profit from the Word is to have the world's luster dimmed, its music silenced, and its alluring dainties seen in their true light. Scripture renews the mind and reorients the affections. The more one is filled with the Word, the more he sets his heart on things above, not on earthly things.

The heart disentangles from the world's snares, and the believer begins to live as a pilgrim and stranger. He is in the world, but not of it. He engages in it without being entangled in its deceitful meshes. He works in it without worshiping it. He does not follow its fashions, absorb its values, or crave its applause. He lives for a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

But this separation is not sour isolation. It is joyful consecration to His beloved and loving Savior. The world loses its grip because Christ has gained his rightful place in our affections. The Word reveals the glory of the unseen, eternal realm, and the believer, like Moses, regards disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt.

Such a man does not live for the worthless trinkets of this fleeting life, but for eternal realities. Are we profiting from the Word in this way? Has it made us more vigilant against the world's subtle influence? Has it taught us to deny its charming vanities, to resist its pull, and to value holiness above popularity?

The one who truly profits from Scripture will not flirt with the world, but will flee from it, seeking rather the smile of God than the deceptive approval of men. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.

1 John 2, verse 17.