Tick tock, tic tock, tic tock
1 John 5:18-21 We know that everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him. 19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. (ESV)
John spends much time in this letter pointing to whom Christ was; His deity as the Son of God. He points to how He came to earth as fully man, died a completely human death, and arose from the dead. He was strongly refuting the false teachers of the day that had blended many religions into their own mix. The false teachers of that day were Satan’s messengers sent to try and stop the growth of the early church; to take people’s eyes off Christ and put their own dead pride in His place. The evil one is always at work, and you must understand his messengers sit in the pews or the pulpits with you every week. You must cultivate your own personal relationship with God to discern who are the false prophets, or those sent by Satan to stir up division and cause strife.
In all John’s writings he points us to the importance of our relationship with Christ. He continually speaks of abiding in his writings; abiding is a “state of being”, a relationship so deep that two become one. John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. Our relationship with Christ should be so strong that the evidences flow from our lives. Our faith should be visible to those at work, play, friends, family, and not just those beside us on Sunday. John is closing out his letter with three absolute truths. Three truths that should present the evidences of our faith in our daily routines. Three truths that give us power; power that we know we are eternally secure and not of this world. This world is under the rule of the evil one, and we are not under his power any more. Matthew Henry states, “ They are thereby prepared and principled against the fatal touches, the sting, of the wicked one; he touches not their souls, to infuse his venom there as he does in others, or to expel that regenerative principle which is an antidote to his poison, or to induce them to that sin which by the gospel constitution conveys an indissoluble obligation to eternal death.”
The evidences of Satan’s power in this world are becoming more and more visible every day. Senseless, evil acts by his soldiers to create terror, division, and anarchy in the hearts of men. The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. (John 10:10a) Satan almost seems to be peaking in a world gone astray from the beginning of time. Do you wonder what comes next? Do you fear what comes next? If you are a child of God there is no fear that lies in your heart. Death only comes to the wicked; eternal life comes to the redeemed. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. (John 10:10b) Redeem the time that you have today to draw near to Christ. Respond to that tug at your heart where He is calling you. Make today a day that you begin to abide in Him, and understand that when all around you is failing, you have no fear because you abide. Redeem the time now, and rejoice in it for eternity.
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