Devotionary

John would have us remember that these two commands: Believe and love others, are to be ongoing and forever increasing in our lives as followers of Christ. Over time, our belief in Him should grow stronger. Our confidence in who He is and what He has accomplished for us should expand the longer we serve Him. And our love for others should become an increasingly normal and natural part of our lives.

One of the outcomes of our faith in Christ that John has already stressed is brotherly love. We are to love one another. But it can’t be lip service. It’s not enough to SAY we love others. We must prove it by our actions. Our behavior should give evidence of our changed nature. Claiming to love others is not enough. We must actually live it out in real life with living, breathing human beings. Even those whom we find to be particularly unlovable.

John is going to discuss that great day when all those who have placed their faith in Jesus Christ will receive glorified bodies and enjoy a state of sinless perfection. That reality should be a huge motivating factor as we live on this planet, waiting for the future day. Our future glorification should inspire us to willingly cooperate with God’s present sanctification of our lives.

For John, sin was more than just a singular act one commits in disobedience to God. It is a spirit of opposition to God. It is living your life in rebellion against the will of God. And, as far as John was concerned, those who made a practice of sinning, who lived in a habitual state of sin, were opposed to God. Their sin was lawlessness, living as if the laws of God did not even exist. And even believers can find themselves falling into the trap of lawlessness – if they do not abide in Christ.

In this life, there are so many other things in which we can abide or find rest. We can turn to materialism, affluence, pleasure and a host of things we think will sustain and satisfy us. But we are to abide in Christ. And in a world where personal identity seems to be confused and distorted by the lies of the enemy, God would have us find our identity in who we are as His children.

For John, it’s all about practicing righteousness. In other words, living a life in keeping with our new standing as sons and daughters of God. The very fact that we can choose to do what God considers as righteous is proof that we have His Spirit living within us. And one of the Spirit’s primary roles in our lives is to expose the sin that remains so that we can confess it and receive full forgiveness for it.

John wants us to know that God’s promise of eternal life comes with a guarantee of sinlessness. Sin will be done away with altogether. And at that point, we will not only be seen as righteous before God because of what Christ has done for us, we will actually be righteous. In every way. Our old sin natures will be done away with once and for all. And the point of all this, is that we should live with the promise of future sinlessness in mind.

Sin is an ever-present possibility as long as we live in these earthly bodies. But we are no longer sinners by nature. We have been given a new nature and a new capacity to say yes to God and no to sin. As long as we abide.

John is going to accentuate our need for righteousness, but he is also going to remind us that it is a byproduct of our relationship with Christ, not something we manufacture on our own. Self-righteousness is self-defeating. On our own, we can’t do the kinds of good works that God demands of us. And He has not asked us to pursue righteousness on our own. In fact, any righteousness we exhibit in our lives is simply proof of our relationship with Christ. It is Him working through us, not us working for Him.

The church, can be a difficult place to show love. Why? Because it’s made up of people who, while saved, still happen to have sin natures that can cause disunity and dissension. As sinners, saved by grace, we can still hurt one another. We can sin against one another. But one of the things that should set us apart as those who have experienced the grace and mercy of God as expressed in the loving sacrifice of His Son, is our commitment to love one another.

Coming to faith is easy. Staying committed to the faith in the face of daily opposition is another thing. So, John is going to provide some very timely words of encouragement and exhortation. He wants us to stay strong. He wants us to rest in the assurance of our salvation and the truth of the gospel message we received. We are not to give up or give in, regardless of what happens to us or around us.

As Christians living in the midst of a fallen world, we are surrounded by lies and half-truths. Satan, under whose influence the majority of people in the world are held captive, wants to contradict and confuse the truth of God. He wants to dilute the message of the gospel and refute the promises of God. He offers us counterfeit gospels and feasible-sounding solutions to our problems. But they are all lies. And the only way we can spot the lies is with the help of the Spirit of God.

I’ve entitled it “When Christians Become Anti-Christ.” That title may surprise you a bit. But John would have us know that it’s not only possible, it is probable, if and when we refuse to keep our hope focused on the gospel of Jesus and the all-sufficient sacrifice of Jesus Christ for not only our salvation, but our sanctification. It is far easier than we might realize to become anti-Christ.

I’ve entitled it “The Last Hour.” In it, we will find John giving his best effort to warn his readers about the spirit of the antichrist. This term is one that most of us associate with the end times, a time period somewhere out in the distant future that we hope to avoid at all costs. But John was under the impression, the divinely-inspired impression, that he was living in the last times. And so are we.

Jesus’ claim to be the way, the truth and the life has always had its detractors and deniers. The exclusivity of that claim has always left some shaking their head in disbelief. It comes across to them as arrogant and intolerant. They can’t imagine a god who offer something so significant as eternal life and then be so unjust as to offer only one way of attaining it. But John wants us to know that anyone who claims a truth other than Christ is not only mistaken, they’re a liar.