1 John 5:13-15 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
John’s letter to Christians everywhere reconfirms that Jesus the man was and is the Son of God. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them. (John 3:36) This simple truth of believing in Jesus Christ and his works brings eternity in God’s presence to the believer. He or she will never again be lost in this senseless finite existence. Instead, through Jesus Christ, the world and this existence makes sense. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. But embracing faith in God is not always easy. The secular world claims that they would believe in God too if He would only show himself to them in some measurable way. Why did God choose this speck in the Cosmos called Earth as the place to implement his design for life. And if so, why did God allow Satan to divert his plan, causing the sin of humans to displease him so much that He sends a great destructive flood. And then, why did He choose the insignificant semite, Abraham, to bring about harmony with God? Why not choose China as the place to implement his plan—why the Middle East? One out of every three people are Chinese. Why not select a larger ethnic population for faith to spawn or a more knowledgeable people to bring his plan of salvation to fruition? Why is everything in God’s plan so difficult to appreciate when we apply rational thought? We cannot process the plans of God because our thinking relies on our awareness of life, using our knowledge and wisdom to cope with the way things are. But the Bible says the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. (1 Corinthians 3:19) Our rational thought will never gain access to his kingdom, for his ways are far above our ways. Faith transcends our thinking, entering God’s domain. True faith, a child’s faith, never wavers. That is why the toddler will get very angry at the parent who does not meet his or her needs, for the toddler believes the parent can provide everything on demand. As we get older, this kind of faith is decimated as worldly knowledge and wisdom come into our existence, and we soon consider absolute faith as foolishness, only for those limited in experience and rationality. But this is the faith demanded by God, the faith that overcomes the world. A person of faith says, I will believe God created all things and sent his Son to die for my sins. John nails down these realities in his letter. No, Jesus the finite man, did not come to us on the most prominent heavenly body in the universe. No, He did not come to the largest ethnic group on the face of this planet. No, He did not exist in the flesh forever. No, He was not the most comely man of all human beings. No, Jesus was not unlike any other man in his appearance. He was insignificant in so many ways, but He was the Son of Man, God in the flesh, the perfect representation of God, imaging God in all things. He performed many miracles that set him apart from the common man. His teachings confounded the wisest people in Israel. He spoke with authority, even when He was very young. His compassion for people and their circumstances led him to tears, for He had the sensitivity of God for people made in the Creator’s image. Jesus, the man, was and is the eternal God. The Bible says, if He is lifted up, everyone who believes may have eternal life in him. (John 3:15) With childlike faith trust his works and not your works, and He will bring eternal life to your souls. For God is not a liar: He will do what you desire: This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.
Sometimes as mere men with our doubts and fears, we ask God to show himself, to do something that will sustain our faith. And God sometimes responds to our prayers, performing miracles in our lives that stretch the probabilities of them happening by mere chance. All of us have had such things happen to us, but usually we have to walk by faith, believing in God as our Father and in Jesus as our Redeemer purely by unadulterated faith. In a world dependent upon human knowledge and wisdom, a walk of faith is sometimes challenged greatly. Our questions are many: Why do good Christians sometimes die before the most heinous of people; why do Christians get sick; why are Christians not the most prosperous and successful people on Earth; why are believers not recognized as the best people in the community, considering their many positive abilities? Such questions do not lead us to a place of faith. We must put our trust in the Lord. As the word says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5) If all Christians stood out from the crowd: if we were all a head taller like king Saul or if we were all successful or if we all lived fifty years longer than the average person, all of the unbelievers would become believers before they died. Their rational thoughts would figure out that a divine force was on the side of these people who call themselves Christians. Of course this kind of Christianity is what the world seeks, a provable Christianity, something that pays off in this world. Sometimes Christians fall into this trap, desiring more of the world to prove God’s goodness, claiming they need more faith in God if they do not hit the right numbers on the Lotto ticket. They play Christ as a good luck charm at the gambling table, praying for success. The athletes often play Christ so that they win the contest. But God does not always come across the way they desire. He does not win the money, the contest, the war for them. He seems to be silent in the heavens, not favoring anyone, not placing his hand on the roulette table of life. This kind of faith leads to disillusionment, to unbelief, to a place of abandoning the Creator. Of course this kind of faith is not faith at all because it depends upon circumstances. When circumstances are going well, the recipient will praise God, but when failure is prominent in his life, he will turn from God or even curse God. Such behavior is not the way of a son or daughter in the family of God. Saving faith is enduring, consistent in all seasons. As Job said, Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. (Job 13:15) Job determined that he would believe in God and his goodness regardless of the situations in his life. This is saving faith.
Breakfast companions, men and women of faith, set your eyes on the heavenly. God has implemented an intricate rescue plan from eternal separation from the Creator. His plan is so great that not even the angels could completely comprehend it: to make sons and daughters in his household. This plan depends on the substance of faith. Sometimes faith in God and his plan through Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection seems so hard to accept, for it runs counter to the rational mind, the way things are: the insignificance of man and his function on this planet Earth. We think of others in terms of prosperity, health, success and influence. At the end of your life on Earth, if you possess little wealth, have sickness in your body, lack success counted worthy by others, hold little influence within your community, then your life is considered not to have been a rich one, worthy of honor, a nondescript existence at best. Your bucket list must not have been fulfilled. Christian friends, listen to the word of the Lord. In God’s domain, you are magnificently special, and you will be honored as beautifully unique and successful as human beings. God will give you his love-name, that which originated from the depths of his heart. You are his, his wonderful jewel or the beautiful lamb that He went out to rescue from the maelstrom of life. God placed you in his family because of his enduring love for you. He never looked away from you. He knew when your faith was small and your doubts were big. But He never quit on you. He knew when your legs wobbled because of the weakness of your flesh, but He never stopped loving you. He told you to keep moving, step by step towards his place of dwelling, The way is narrow, but it is straight with signposts everywhere pointing the way. God knew every negative nanosecond thought that whipped through your head, but He never failed you and never will. His determination is to make you his son or daughter. His family will be expanded because of you in his presence. He has made you clean and right before him because his Son’s righteousness has taken your place before him. You are looked upon as blessed because his Son is greatly blessed. Jesus was abandoned for a while. He had to take abandonment from God because of your sins, for you deserved eternal abandonment from God. But Jesus paid the full price for you which includes eternal absence from God. But God the Father sent the Holy Spirit to raise Jesus. The Holy Spirit lives in your temple dear friend because your life has been cleansed forever by Jesus’ blood. You are pure because Jesus is pure, but this position of purity rests on faith in his works. Faith settles on top of God’ mercy and love for you. You could not have had faith unless God had mercy and love for you. This is the support your faith rests upon. He reached out to you while you were yet a sinner with mercy and his powerful grace. He revealed to you a way to be right with Him. He gave you life through his Son. He allowed Jesus as the Christ to be on Earth. God performed many miracles through this man Jesus. As John writes, place your trust in him, just as little children place their faith in their parents. You will not be disappointed; in fact, you will be amazed in what God has in store for you. See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1)
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