THE WORLD

It seeks to alienate you from God. 

The following passage has to do with an earthly 'system' instituted by man ... one in which he attempts to pacify himself outside of a relationship with his Creator. 

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. 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 is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17 

The 'lust of the flesh' is the desire to do something apart from the will of God. The 'lust of the eyes' is the desire to have something apart from the will of God. The 'pride of life' is the desire to be something apart from the will of God. (the first appeals to the body, the second to the soul, and the third to the spirit)

John Calvin - The mind of a Christian ought not to be filled with thoughts of earthly things, or find satisfaction in them, for we ought to be living as if we might have to leave this world at any moment.  

Worldliness is a 'horizontal' existence that desperately tries to satisfy a yearning for contentment. In contrast, the life of a believer is 'vertical' by nature ... spiritual eyes looking toward heaven's eternal shore.  

For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world - our faith. And who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1John 5:4-5

If you treasure anything more than you do the Lord Jesus Christ, your soul needs this revelation ... the world system can't help when your plans shatter, your health fails, or death beckons. 

Hope is found in God alone.