“We know that
God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them
securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. We know that we are children of
God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one. And we
know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we
can know the true God. And now we live in fellowship with the true God because
we live in fellowship with the Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and
he is eternal life. Dear children, keep away from anything that might take
God’s place in your hearts”
(1 John 5:18-21,
NLT).
The Apostle John
highlighted three important “we know”
statements at the end of his letter. First,
we know that we can be freed from the power of sin. This doesn’t mean that
we never sin but we “do not make a
practice of sinning” or habitually sinning anymore. We do not have
to be helpless slaves to sin; it does not have to be a constant habit. Even
though in reality the devil is dangerously active in this world and his power
is great, we are assured that Jesus is more powerful and greater! He is with us
and for us, no matter what happens. Jesus holds us “secured,”
and that is why “the evil one cannot touch”
us!
Second, we know that we draw our very existence from
God. God is like our life support
system. We receive all that we are and have from God, even though we know that
Satan has tremendous power in “the world
around us” (for a while). Many people are under the
influence of the evil one. They have chosen to live their lives apart from God.
Know that the Bible only divides the people of the world into two groups: light and darkness. Either a person chooses to live with and for God, or for the
powers of evil in this world. There is no third choice. So, with God on our
side, there is really no battle too great or disappointment too large that can
cause us to be defeated. “We are”
– after all – “children of God.”
Third, we know that we believe in the true God. There certainly are many counterfeit gods today. But
we know that through Jesus Christ, the Son of God, we can “know
the true God.” One way we know this is that our God does not make us
feel confused, instead, He gives us “understanding.”
In other words, being a Christian doesn’t mean that we have to put our minds in
neutral and commit intellectual suicide (or blind faith or simpleton faith). Nor
do we have to be obsessed with unanswerable issues (complex theological and
philosophical arguments). The truth of God and about God requires
faith-understanding, and thus it stimulates our thinking so we will know what is
fundamentally right (or wrong) and true (or false), especially as we face false
teachings and false gods. But notice that we not only know God, we are also “live in” God. It means we not only have
an acquaintance with God but also live in fellowship in/with Him and He in us. This
is a much deeper experience than a mere passing acquaintance might be. “We live in fellowship with the true God because we
live in fellowship with the Son, Jesus Christ.”
Then John ends his letter
with the affectionate phrase: “Dear children…”
John’s love reflects God’s love for all of us, His children. This is wonderful!
He then challenges us to “keep away from
anything that might take God’s place in [our] hearts” (In Greek it
translation simply: “Keep yourselves
from idols”). In John’s time, it mainly refers to physical images of
false gods but today it can also refer to the influences of false faiths
around us; in education, religions, social media, etc. John wants us to avoid
counterfeit gods – anything or anyone that claims our values, our time, our
relationships, and our hearts from “the only true
God.” We must avoid anything that denies Jesus Christ of His full
deity and humanity, any human idea that claims to be more authoritative than
the Bible, or any royalty that replaces God at the center of our lives. Therefore,
“Keep yourselves away from idols!” with the exclamation mark “!!!”
THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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