Taking a Look at 1 John

“God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”- 1 John 4:9-10 New Living Translation 

      Love explains many things. It explains why God created mankind, why he cares so much, why we are free to choose, why Christ had to die & why we received eternal life. God created us so we would be like him, so that he had a people to love & who would love him back. God cared because he loves his creation, both the righteous & the sinful. We’re given the freedom to choose what we believe & whom we believe in because God wants us to have a willing, free response to his love. Christ died willingly to provide the solution to man’s sin problem. Living eternally with our Lord is his way of showing us his love forever.

            God is absolute goodness, therefore, no immorality, no sin; no evil can abide in God’s presence. He cannot & will not overlook a person’s sin. He doesn’t condone it & will never excuse it as if it never happened. The whole idea of Christianity isn’t to see how close to sin we can get knowing that God will forgive us if we ask him to. The Lord is patient & kind however he expects us to live according to scripture. Do we HAVE to? No. But it’s what is expected of us based on the price that was paid for our redemption. To not live for Christ would be like receiving a really awesome gift, saying thanks, then setting it aside & never bothering to open it. That sounds silly but many people do that very thing when they receive Christ. They get the gift of salvation; yet never partake of all the blessings that come with being saved.

            When John wrote this letter most of the eyewitnesses that saw Jesus ministry had already passed away. That made his job a bit more difficult, not because the Holy Spirit couldn’t move upon the situation, but because those in the congregation were still human & prone to poor judgment. Hammering home repeatedly the fact that God’s only Son willingly came to bleed & die for all sin reaffirmed its reality. In the end, truth wins over lies every time because lies are inconsistent & are based on conjecture or flat out falsehood. Truth is based on the Word of God.  Until next time, walk with the King & be a blessing! rlkeller

Resource: The Life Application Study Bible.