Stop Loving the World | Book Review
- Amber Thiessen
- 4 hours ago
- 5 min read
"A man who loves the world grows, little by little, to be a stranger to God and Christ. We cannot simultaneously have our eyes on both heaven and earth. Suppose we are between two men or two mountains; the nearer we draw to one, the further we go from the other."
On a trip to Zambia, to see the majestic Victoria Falls, we also had the opportunity to visit the Chobe National Park in Botswana. Leaving from Livinstone by bus, we traveled across the Kazungula bridge to enter Botswana.
What's incredible about that bridge (and the point we'd get to see later by boat) is that just beyond it lies the only point in the world where four countries intersect: Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia.
Where you want to go determines the path you take.
Arriving in one country means leaving the one you're in. You can't remain sitting on the border forever. The bridge won't allow it. Neither will the governments. You can't stay suspended between two lands; you must cross over and be firmly planted in one.
In the same way, as believers, we're called to a heavenly country. We're set apart and called by God to be holy—a people for his own possession,, eager to do good. Yet because our sinful nature has disordered the desires of our hearts, we're prone to linger, long for, and lust after the pleasures the world offers rather than the things of God.
Imagine if we were more consumed by how we can affirm and encourage others than with Netflix. If we'd desire holiness more than success.
The command to stop loving the world is vitally important for us today. And that's exactly what this book is all about.
Stop Loving the World | Book Review
Content
Purpose of the Book
Table of Contents
Summary
My Take
My Recommendation
Quick Stats
More Like This
Scriptures About Loving the World
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Content
Purpose of the Book
Is to explore the biblical instruction to keep ourselves from loving the world in 1 John 2:15, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.”
Table of Contents
Concerning the World and Our Love for It
Reasons for Not Loving the World
Our Relationship to God’s Creation
Applications of the Doctrine
Further Motives for Not Loving the World
Directions for Getting Our Hearts off the World
Summary
In this short book, William Greenhill expounds on 1 John 2:15: “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.”
In chapter 1, he explains that this command is given to the saints—those who are prone to loving the world—and precisely because we are prone to it, we are commanded not to. He unpacks what “the world” is and what it looks like to love it in our thoughts, desires, strength, and actions.
In chapter 2, he shows us why we shouldn’t love the world. We have a higher calling in Christ, and as believers, it is unreasonable to place our faith in what we will inevitably lose rather than in what we cannot lose—the promises of God. It is idolatrous, dangerous, and impossible to serve both the world and God. He points out that loving the world makes God our enemy, wastes our time, and can potentially lead to apostasy.
In chapter 3, he turns to our relationship with creation. Though we are not meant to worship the things of the world, we are created to learn from, appreciate, and steward what is in it. We can enjoy the good things of the world when our priorities are rightly ordered.
In chapter 4, he considers how we apply these biblical truths to our lives—by acknowledging how we use the things of the world and by purposefully examining our hearts. He provides pointed, searching questions to help us do just that.
He presses deeper in chapter 5, offering further reasons to stop loving the world. He highlights its sinfulness, God’s clear warnings against it, and the dissatisfaction and destruction the world’s pleasures leave behind. Finally, in chapter 6, he shares seven practical helps for turning our hearts away from the things of the world.
My Take
I enjoy reading both fiction and nonfiction, and over the years I’ve been challenged to read more older books. That desire led me to discover the Puritan Treasures for Today series. The Puritan writers aim to examine the heart. They take sin and holiness seriously and seamlessly integrate theology with everyday life.
The books in this series are short, which makes them very accessible for modern readers. I especially appreciate how the teaching is often presented in outline form—it makes the arguments clear and helps the emphasis stand out.
In Stop Loving the World, I was challenged not to gloss over the subtle danger of loving the things of the world. Greenhill does not allow the reader to remain vague. He presses the question: What do you truly love? What are you clinging to? I found myself prayerfully considering where my desires may be drifting—where good gifts are quietly becoming ultimate things.
If love is about rightly ordered desires, then this book serves as a compass to guide us. It reminds us that the issue is not simply what we enjoy, but what we elevate. And that kind of heart work, though uncomfortable, is deeply freeing.
My Recommendation
The warning to stop loving the world wasn’t only for the 1600s—it remains immensely relevant for us today. I would highly encourage you to pick up this short, accessible book and allow it to search your heart. It’s a helpful guide for examining your desires and considering how you might live more single-mindedly and devotedly for the Lord.
Quick Stats
# of Pages: 67
Level of Difficulty: Easy
My Rating: 5 stars!
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Titles in this series I've also read and enjoyed:
Scriptures About Loving the World
Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever (1 Jn 2:15-17)
You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God (Jam. 4:4)
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect (Rom. 12:2)
“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money (Matt. 6:24)
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