Staying Away from Things that Harm You

I pray this morning’s blog finds you seeking after God during the middle section of the week. Since Sunday the world system has been active trying to undermine all that God wants to do in our lives. I want to talk about a word today that is seldom used but carries with it a profound meaning. The word we will discuss today is proscription. I pray that God will direct your heart this morning so that God’s will is done in our lives.

The word proscription carries an important meaning, and yet it is a word seldom used. Its simple definition is “to forbid as harmful.” In our day when anything with a negative connotation is disdained, the word proscription is not likely to gain popularity; but the truth it represents must not be disregarded or taken lightly.

Believers are taught to love God, to love one another, to love the lost, etc. Those are all positive aspects of love, and few question them. However, when God says, “Love not the World, neither the things that are in the world” (v.15), this is considered too negative to fit within the framework of love. As a result, new, illogical, and unscriptural meanings are attached to both love and the world in an attempt to salve the consciences of those who do not want to obey Love’s Proscriptions.

Think how many Christian leaders and fellow-believers are doing their best to clean up the world, or refine the world, or use the world to build the church and evangelize the world. They use worldly means, worldly music, worldly words, and worldly programs to get people into the church. After that task is accomplished, they have to be continually on the lookout for the newest worldly attractions to keep people in the church. No wonder there is a famine for the Word when so many are feeding on the world.

There is absolutely no excuse for this. God’s command is clear – Love not the world (v.15). God’s explanation is clear – For all that is in the world . . . is not of the Father (v.16). God’s revelation of future consequences is clear – And the world passeth away (v.17).

The proscriptions of God’s love concerning the world are not designed to rob Christians of good times and successful ministries. Instead, it is God’s love for His own that causes Him to forbid the ways of the world. What great loss is suffered by believers who disregard His warning.

As we see more and more pastors and churches succumbing to the ways of the world, it becomes more and more unpopular to reprove, rebuke, and exhort those who either have forgotten what God has said or who have been deceived by worldly slogans like, “Try it, you’ll like it”; or, “If it works, it must be okay”; or, “We can reach more people this way.” Love not the world – no matter what others may be doing. We must love God above all else and meditate on Him.