Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him. – 1 John 2:15, AMP After church one day, we decided to grab a copious amount of Chinese food from our favorite take-out restaurant. Not long after we sat down to our delightfully greasy, MSG-laden feast, the kids spontaneously started spouting fond family memories they possessed from events that occurred earlier in their lives. We laughed heartily at the stories, and throughout the entire exchange my soul was filled with the joy that only strong family ties can bring.

As soon as I left the table, my thoughts turned to another table that all Christians will feast at one day: the Father’s table in Heaven. I wondered how many sweet memories of fellowship we average Christians will be able to share with our Heavenly Father, and I was convicted by the distinct possibility that the answer will be, “Not many.” Sweet memories of fellowship are rooted in strong, unencumbered relationships, and the only way we can have a strong, unencumbered relationship with our Heavenly Father is to abandon our sin and to embrace His way of thinking and doing. This is where most of our relationships with God breakdown. We embrace our sin rather than Him. Oh, we may think we love God even when we choose to do something He has expressly told us in Scripture not to do.  But despite what our human reasoning might tell us, the Bible tells us that we cannot love both God and our sin at the same time. As God teaches us through the Apostle John in 1 John 2:15 (AMP):

Do not love or cherish the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him.

Put bluntly, saying that we love God at the same time that we love our sin is like saying a pregnant woman is just a “little bit” pregnant.  She either is or she isn’t; it’s either one or the other, not both at the same time.  We either love God or we don’t, and it is only when we love Him that we’ll be in a position to create those fond, family memories we will someday discuss with Him over the dinner table.

If you were to die this very moment, how many stories of sweet fellowship would you be able to share with your Father at your first meal with Him?

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