Pride in being 'unworldly'

The enemy that we call the ‘world’ is an elusive one. We even fail to define it properly. How can we fight an enemy that we cannot even see? 1^st John warns us not to LOVE the world or the things of this world. And yet because we are living in this world and making use of it, how do we know when it is that our involvement with the world borders on loving the world? Everything that I am involved in regarding the world, seem to be necessary aspects of life and living.

But John is very clear in defining worldliness. He tells us that everything in the world that provokes the lust of the flesh, that arouses the lust of the eyes or that motivates the pride of life is to be refused and that too - on a consistent basis. When Eve saw ‘that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise’, she ate of it, knowing fully well that she was disobeying a clear commandment of God. Now the thing to take note of is that these three things work at different levels and are independent of each other. You may not give in at all to the lusts of the eyes or may refuse the lusts of the flesh, but what about the pride of life? Many of us take pride in not being 'worldly' in the aspect of its lusts but the boastful pride of life is equally part of being worldly. That attitude in us that prevents us from giving glory to God is the heart of worldliness and yet very few are able to discern it.