Thought for wednesday, 25 September

 1 John 5:18-21

We know that those who have become part of God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot get his hands on them. 

We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the power and 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 are in God because we are in his 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.

Today’s reading are the last few verses in the book of 1 John.  These four verses are a sermon in themselves and lend themselves to much more consideration than this brief overview.

John writes that those who are part of God’s family do not make a practice of doing the wrong things.  It suggests that when we are faced with a decision of doing the right thing or the wrong thing, we are fully aware of our options and clear about the choice we should be making.  If we are part of God’s family, we might not get it right all of the time, but we should be getting it right most of the time.  If this is not the case, how can we demonstrate to others that being in God’s family should show us to be much different from those who are not.  If this difference is not evident, its time to have a good look at ourselves, and to seek God’s help through sincere prayer.  If we continually turn to God and make Jesus part of our lives, we are assured that the evil one will not get a hold of us and cause us to stumble or fail.

When we look around us, there is much evidence that supports this portion of scripture that tells us that the evil one is alive and well and influencing and attempting to control our world and society at all levels.  We just need to look at the wars and conflicts that have taken place throughout history and are still taking place.  We just need to look at some parts of the world where people are starving and other parts where the amount of food being wasted on a daily basis might possibly be enough to feed all those who have nothing.  We just need to look at schooling which used to feature teaching about Christianity and now it is deemed not to be acceptable in case it causes offence to others – the Gospel of love causing offence – could any of us have predicted this scenario twenty, thirty or forty years ago?

Churches are closing and the younger generations we would hope would take over from ourselves in attending worship are not getting to hear the Good News thus missing out on the promise of eternal life through Jesus.  The final verse today teaches us to avoid anything that might take the place of God in our hearts and there are so many things that fall into this category.  We need to pray that the Holy Spirit would help us discern between what is acceptable in the sight of God and that which we need to avoid.

Prayer – Heavenly Father, how we thank and praise You that we have received eternal life and the forgiveness of sin by trusting in Christ’s finished work at Calvary. Help us to be true and faithful witnesses to the simple yet profound truth, that those who have the Son have life, and those who do not have the Son of God do not have life. This we ask in Jesus' name, Amen.