What the Bible says about Love of Righteousness
(From Forerunner Commentary)

Genesis 3:6 Worldliness has been described as the love of beauty without a corresponding love of righteousness. This is correct, and comes right out of the “original sin” story that is told in Genesis 3:6. Eve saw that the fruit was good for food, pleasant to the eyes, and something to be desired. These three references concern the appeal of beauty. Unfortunately, as the record clearly shows, Adam and Eve did not love righteousness. Also contained in this sin are inferences of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (I John 2:15-17). The love of beauty and the pulls of temptation are inextricably entwined. People do not ordinarily desire ugly things. We have been made by Almighty God to love beauty and to seek it out even though no one's notion of beauty is exactly the same. Beauty is being used in a very broad sense, simply as a term for things that are appealing and have the power to create desire within us. Thus, we desire things we deem beautiful, but the problem is that we do not have a corresponding love of righteousness, like Adam and Eve. We will break the laws of God in order to have what we consider beautiful. Sometimes people commit vicious evils to have what they find appealing and beautiful at the time. Beauty is what is delightful to the senses, gratifying, and evokes admiration and excitement within a person. Therein lies its danger, and it does not matter what one finds delight in. The result of having a love of beauty without a corresponding love of righteousness is, rather than dressing and keeping as we are commanded to do in Genesis 2, that we use and abuse. Unfortunately, much of this abuse is to our own body. Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden, the most beautiful spot on earth, because they did not love righteousness. This is a seriously simple, powerful lesson! The beauty was there to behold, even the beauty of the forbidden fruit, luring them. Did God put it there to tempt them into sin? No! He put it there for them to admire and bring glory to the Creator God in their rightful use of it. Instead, they abused their privilege because they did not love righteousness, and the beauty was taken away from them. John W. Ritenbaugh Laodiceanism Related Topics: Adam and Eve's Sin | Beauty | Love of Righteousness | Lust of the Eyes | Lust of the Flesh | Pride of Life | Worldliness

Revelation 11:18 We need to expand our thinking on the word "earth" and understand that it figuratively, metaphorically, represents all of creation. It is not just the earth, the orb that is spinning around through space on its appointed path, but all of the things that are on the earth. Above all, it refers to mankind, which lives on the earth. God says He will destroy those who destroy the creation, and that includes themselves. When man does that, he is telling God that we do not appreciate what He has given us. We have a love of beauty without the love of doing what is right in order to maintain correctly what He has given to us. By far and away, the most important abuse in all of creation deals with man's relationships with God and fellow man. We abuse our relationships because we do not love righteousness along with beauty. Rather than dressing and keeping the relationships through a love of righteousness, we use and abuse them, too. We can see this in the divorce rate. People do not get divorces because they love one another. It is because one or the other spouse, or both, have abused the relationship. So the marriage, which was created by God to be the environment in which His spiritual creation would be carried out, is destroyed! Again, God is going to destroy those who destroy the earth, His creation. The basic reason this occurs is addressed in I John. It is the lack of love for God and of God that is causing this. Loving God is a choice that is open to all Christians. If one does not consider God beautiful and choose to love Him, the only alternative is self-centeredness. We turn our love in on ourselves, and instead of seeking to please God within a relationship with Him, we instead choose unrighteousness or sin, abusing the relationship between Him and us. All love for fellow man begins first with the love for God. This is why I John tells us it is impossible to love man without loving God first. We must start thinking about what are we doing in our lives to build our relationship with God, because that relationship is salvation! Is God beautiful to us? Is God's way beautiful to us? If it is not, the self-centeredness will lead to abuse. Self-centeredness is the hallmark of worldliness. John W. Ritenbaugh Laodiceanism Related Topics: Creation of Earth | Divorce | Israel's Relationship with God | Love of Righteousness | Loving God | Loving God with all our strength | Marriage Relationship | Relationship with God | Relationships With People | Self Centeredness

 

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