It should hurt
1 John 4:4-6 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world. 5 They are of the world. Therefore they speak as of the world, and the world hears them. 6 We are of God. He who knows God hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
John is really trying to help his readers to be able to discern the differences in the truth and the false teachings that had infected early Christianity. Just as today there were teachers who picked apart the Word of God; they selected only the parts that appealed, and twisted their ideals into their own religion. They truths became so twisted you could not determine where one started and ended. This problem still is prevalent today in so many ministries and pulpits. They bring just enough of Christ to tickle your ears, then their paths become soft, and their doctrines have no spine. They only preach heaven, but never preach hell. The realization of one’s soul that is lost in sin, and the damnation of it without Christ, draws that soul to a much deeper appreciation and servant heart and life of a disciple as we are called to be as a result of His sacrifice.
John continually points to Christ’s Holy Spirit that lives inside each believer, and the discernment that comes with His presence there. The “we” in this epistle is referring to the apostles, and the sound doctrines of Christ. The “they” in this epistle is referring to the false teachers of that day, and their twists on Christianity rooted in their own sin. They are of this world, and their views derived from it. People who listen to them are lost in that same self centered, worldly, materialistic viewpoints from which it was bred. 1 Corinthians 2:14 But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. It would be very easy to take all the positives of Christianity and twist it to fit ones own ideals; it would roll into the benefits of self, and not the convictions of sin.
Do you listen only to the soft preaching? Do you only want to hear what makes you feel good because you have enough bad to deal with in your life? That is understandable only to a point. There is eternal salvation and paradise found in Jesus Christ alone; hope for an eternity with Him and the unimaginable pleasures of heaven with Him. But their is also a call to the conviction, repentance of sin, and a life focused on serving Him for our short time here. We are not called to a life of ease here; we are called to become a slave to Him who died for us and to seek to spread the hope that lies within us. Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs–heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. Find a pastor that preaches the whole truth from the Word of God, and let His Spirit inside you work out those convictions of sin, to let Him mold you into the image of His Son.
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