This term, "the world," means _the age_, or the temporal conditions now existing, considered from a moral and spiritual point of view. "The world," therefore, to which we are not to be "conformed" is the order and course of life followed by those to whom the present is all and eternity nothing. The Christian is to regard life from another, a higher--namely, a spiritual and eternal--point of view, and to live accordingly. It is the _wrong spirit_ of life that the apostle calls us away from--the life which is governed by "worldly" impulses and motives. His injunction is like unto that of another apostle: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." "The lust of the flesh"--carnality--the lowest of all the forms of self-gratification--that which makes the drunkard, the profligate, the debauchee. "The lust of the eyes"--the disposition to attach ourselves to what is external, showy, dazzling. "The pride of life"--the tendency to glory in anything which ministers to our self-importance in our worldly position--wealth, rank, station. All these things are passing away, and are therefore unworthy of the supreme place in our hearts. Enjoyments springing out of them, hopes founded upon them, must perish. Only he that "doeth the will of God"--living above the love of the world, by living to God and in the supreme love of Him--"abideth for ever" in the higher and happier order of being. There is a proper "use" of the world, which is easily distinguished from its "abuse." The worldly spirit of an unchristian man says, "Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." The ascetic spirit in a Christian man says, "All contact with the world is dangerous: we must have nothing to do with it. Touch not, taste not, handle not." The true spirit of Christianity says, "Use the world, but do not abuse it." The Christian's inheritance is inclusive of "all things." All may be made to minister to his spiritual growth, and to become the means of blessing on his part to others. Avail yourself of all, then, but within the limits proper to each; never allowing any, by over indulgence, to check the development of the inner life. Use the world, but do not let the world use you. "I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldest _keep them from the evil_." In looking, then, at the idea of nonconformity to the world, it was in the apostle's mind, we are impressed by one or two reflections.