Yesterday the tea room was buzzing, and the local internets were busy. Because of Cricket. Brendon Macullum, the captain, had batted for almost four sessions and scored over three hundred runs, turning a heavy defeat against India to a certain draw (which meant that, by evening, when the five day test ended, we had won the series against them). This is the biggest test score by an New Zealand cricketer.

This relates to what I was writing last night: our loves are local. The sports of our country, the food, the scenery.

But in this there is a trap.

1 John 2:12-17

¹²I am writing to you, little children, because your sins are forgiven on account of his name. ¹³I am writing to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young people, because you have conquered the evil one. ¹⁴I write to you, children, because you know the Father. I write to you, fathers, because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you, young people, because you are strong and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the evil one.

¹⁵Do not love the world or the things in the world. The love of the Father is not in those who love the world; ¹⁶for all that is in the world – the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, the pride in riches – comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷And the world and its desire are passing away, but those who do the will of God live forever.

What is the love of the world? well, in part it is our desires — greed, lust, jealousy, sloth… there are lists. But the other parts are a pride in being rich, being successful. Well, that knocks out about half of the TV channels — for they are either renovation or food, or talking about finance as if your happiness is attached to your bank balance.

Having money is good. In periods of high expense — and with a boy starting university, I am in the middle of one — when you have to work out when to pay these things or that are not conducive to a good nights sleep. We should make provision for our future. But… we should not put our security in them. If the Greeks have stolen the savings of the prudent to ensure that their feckless governments do not fail, the same can happen elsewhere.

And the desire of eyes covers a lot: there is a reason that most advertisements have quite beautiful people in them — we want to be like them and the implication is that we will if we have their car, or eat this food, or buy this perfume, or use this product. Sometimes this is very obvious.

Now, we are told we should not love this world. For if we do, we are putting our loyalties not with God, but with this nation, with our desires, with our riches. With things that may be good, but this natural goodness can curdle. There has been much evil done under the guise of patriotism. but this is an error. If we try to be safe, we will die craven.

“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes. Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small. It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you. But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death; narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does. I choose my own way to burn.”

Sophie Scholl paid with those words, by acting on them. By doing her duty. Because, good Evangelical that she was, she did not account her nation, or her family, or the very beauty she found in the horror of the Second War of last century, stop her from loving her Saviour. And this led her to the guillotine.

Let us not let our love of this world, not the memes of this world, make us small. For they promise safety when there is but risk, fulfillment where there is emptiness and fertility in a desert. This culture has a use by date. Christ does not.