1 I Beseech you therefore brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye give up your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable serving of God.
2 And fashion not yourselves like unto this world, but be ye changed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what that good, and acceptable and perfect will of God is. Romans 12:1-2 (1599 Geneva Bible)
One of the markers of genuineness in a Christian is separation from the World. This isn’t a physical removal from planet Earth or a disintegration of the body of a Christian. A genuine Christian’s character should be in a continual upgrade unto Christlikeness. That means that as he or she cooperates with God in their sanctification, working out their salvation with fear and trembling, their character will take on more and more of Christ’s character. They will love what He loves and hate what he hates. God is love, but He hates a certain type of love.
18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. John 15:18-19 (1599 Geneva Bible)
15 Love not this world, neither the things that are in this world. If any man love this world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in this world, (as the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life) is not of the Father, but is of this world. 17 And this world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that fulfilleth the will of God, abideth ever. 1 John 2:15-17 (1599 Geneva Bible)
If professing believers love the very thing that hates the truth of God’s sovereignty, His genuine character–not the one they have made up, and all genuine Christians who proclaim these truths then they prove either that they are very immature Christians or the love of the Father is not in them. The word love used here, in the Greek, means “affection and devotion.” John is telling us that genuine Christians will not habitually have affection and devotion for the world or the things in the world. <Continue reading post>