I was leading our little family in reading through 1 John, and when we came to 2:15, it caused serious concern in my youngest. It reads, 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. He was 8 at the time and enjoying the beauty of nature full-throttle—splashing in a creek, chasing seagulls at a beach, climbing trees like they are snow-covered mountain peaks. But 1 John 2:15 tells him he must not love the world or the things in it. Grown-ups wrestle with superfluous things like theories of atonement, models of eschatology, and how to understand “free will.” My 8-year old was going to lose sleep that night wrestling with John. “Does that mean we’re not allowed to love trees? Because I LOVE trees!” he asked. He was genuinely concerned that the joy he received from the created order was out of bounds with orthodox Christianity (well, he might not have worded it quite like that, but that was clearly his di...