Life forever!

1 John 2:17 The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever. Do you remember in a previous verse, John said that for those who are in the light, the darkness is passing away. In this verse, he echoed that truth. The world is passing away for those who know God and have the light and love of God living in them. That’s us! We who live to love with Jesus experience the truth of this verse. The world and its lusts are in the process of passing away as far as we are concerned. As we start each day saying, “Jesus, you are my life. You satisfy my soul more than life itself. Thank you for another day to know You, love You, and live to love with You,” we are doing the will of God. As we do His will by trusting God and loving others with Him, the world simply passes by us with its lusts. In contrast, the one who doesn’t know God’s love and fullness in Christ, the evil one has something in them to snag and attract them: emptiness, lust, and pride. The world isn’t passing away, it increasingly becomes their life. It’s the only reality they know. Check out the end of this verse. “The one who does the will of God lives forever.” The one who loves the world only finds a temporal life—a life that will be lost when they die. And with that loss, he loses life forever. However, the one who finds life in Christ and lives to love with Him—out of His fullness, presence, and power—that person find life eternal. He will live forever, even when he leaves this world. So our encouragement today to live to love with Jesus is that we know it is God’s will and there’s a promise for us to embrace and rejoice in. We will live forever in the fullness of God’s love with Jesus if we are living today satisfied in His will with Jesus now.