1 John 5:13-15 I Will Hope!

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)  

John 5:6-12 Amazing Grace!

John 5:6-12  This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ.  He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.  And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.  For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.  We accept human testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son.  Whoever believes in the Son of God accepts this testimony.  Whoever does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.  And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.  Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  

The key to eternal life: Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.  Within each born again believer is the Holy Spirit.  He has come to give eternal life to every person who puts his or her total trust in Jesus Christ.  God has given every person a soul where God himself can abide, and He brings eternal life to those souls cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.  Without Christ’s redemptive work, eternal life is not a reality.  Historically, few humans are significant in this world’s milieu, making a large imprint on the world.  A few years after death, most of us are forgotten except for the few family members or friends who knew us well, and their memories of us will rarely pass on to generations.  But in God’s context and in his domain, we are set large, important, glorified.  In his household, we are known as sons and daughters of the Most High—impressive, filling the universe not only with the glory of God but the glory He has bestowed upon us.  We are transformed from small, insignificant humans, biological specks on the Earth’s surface, to spirits so magnificent that we express God himself.  By saying that the life God gives us is in his Son, John confirms our victorious status.  He who called himself the Son of Man is the presence of God on Earth, the complete divine image of God.  In and through him all things were made.  Jesus was confirmed by God himself: Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.  But John tried to deter him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?”  Jesus replied, “Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John consented.  As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.  At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him.  And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”  (Matthew 3: 13-17)  The same confirmation occurs on the Mount of Transfiguration when God the Father reiterates that Jesus the man is his Son: After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.  There he was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.  Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.  Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here.  If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”  While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.  Listen to him!”  When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified.  But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.  (Matthew 17:1-8)  

In the above situations and others, God confirmed the man Jesus as his Son.  Of course, this must have been hard to grasp, for Jesus walked this earth as a biological entity; yet God was identifying him as his Son and marking him with authority.  This concept of Jesus being God remains a stumbling stone to many today.  John separates those who believe that Jesus was just a good man or perhaps a religious fanatic from those who believe that He is the Son of God.  Only the latter will reap eternal life and life forever with the beauty of God’s DNA in them.  Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we SHOULD BE CALLED CHILDREN OF GOD!  Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.  Beloved, now we are children of God; AND IT HAS NOT YET BEEN REVEALED WHAT WE SHALL BE, BUT WE KNOW THAT WHEN HE IS REVEALED, WE SHALL BE LIKE HIM, for we shall see Him as He is.  And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.  (1 John 3:1-3)  The former will inherit a grave polluted by sin and finiteness because they have not believed the testimony God has given about his Son.  Christians will be without sin when we enter his kingdom.  they will be like Jesus: pure, holy, eternal.  No death or tears of remorse will be in that eternal kingdom.  Only perfect, blissful life will exist for all who are found IN the Christ.  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)  The Spirit of God testifies that Jesus is the Son, but Jesus also came by water with his baptism by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.  Because Jesus took up the mantel of man, to be right with God, He had to be baptized with John’s baptism of repentance.  Since Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, He was without sin; consequently, He did not have to be baptized in water as a sign of his repentance.  Because Jesus represented the perfect Son of Man or God’s Anointed One, He fulfilled this requirement as a sign to others of his obedience to God, and his baptism allowed God to identify Jesus as his Son.  From that time, Jesus’ mission was to reveal himself as God in the flesh by performing many miracles, even on the Sabbath.  By working on the Sabbath, Jesus revealed God never rests in creating.  Of course, salvation validates this comments, for we who are IN CHRIST have been made a new creation.  Keeping the Sabbath and the regulations of the law could never make man a new creature.  Man’s basic nature, his attitude and fleshly likeness, was contrary to the purity of God, outside of God’s likeness.  Man could attempt to be right with God for a short period of time, but his true Adamic nature would eventually place him at odds with God’s purity and holiness.  The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even though every inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood.  (Genesis 8:21)  The human race since Adam and Eve’s failure to obey God has been in a state of rebellion against the Creator.  This nature of wanting man’s ways above God’s will trumps everyone’s life, causing men and women estrangement from God’s eternal nature and everlasting life.  In resignation to man’s evil ways, God says that he will permit man a short existence, experiencing the good and evil of living, but not eternity with God outside of Christ.  As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.  (Genesis 8:22)

Judgement will fall on all men and women for their waywardness from God.  Dust will return to dust.  God’s eternal presence requires absolute holiness.  Sin is contrary to God’s nature of perfection.  Sin is a flaw of the flesh, a cancerous substance to the existence of eternal life.  Therefore, for men to be with God and possess eternal life, sin must be excised from man’s being.  Jesus came to do just that.  He came to rectify the condition of man, to take man from finite to eternal.  Therefore, He satisfied God’s judgement on sin: death.  By dying on the cross, Jesus fulfill God’s judgement on sin.  In Noah’s time, the Lord killed all the people and creatures on Earth because of the sin that was rampant on the Earth.  Killing everything living did not do away with the contamination of sin.  Sin still existed in the hearts of people.  Violence was still part of their everyday lives.  God repented of killing everyone, but He had a plan to redeem many, and this plan included the death of his Son.  His Son would pay the debt of sin for all who would place their faith in his Son’s death and resurrection.  By hiding in Christ through faith in HIS WORKS, mankind would escape the penalty of death that was assigned to all.  When death came to Jesus because of the sin of the world, we too died with him if we substitute his works for our works.  We not only died with him, we were resurrected with him in his cloak of righteousness.   For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his.  For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.  Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.  (Romans 6:5-8)  Praise God, new creations came about when Jesus arose from the grave.  God is in the creation business.  No longer are we trapped in this finite life on an insignificant celestial body called Earth.  Christians are designed for eternal life because Jesus is eternal, and we are hidden in him.  IN CHRIST, we arose anew, no longer bound to the regimentations of life: As long as the earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease.  Now and forevermore, a new existence in the presence of God is ours.  When we escape this vail of tears, days, time, and seasons will not control us, for we will be in the timeless God, at home in peace and harmony.  This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ.  He did not come by water only, but by water and blood.  And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.  For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.  Jesus was baptized for us; He was raised for us, He shed his blood for us, and God announced his divinity to all the world.  We are saved by the water, blood, and Spirit.  Because this is true, Christians all over the world sing, Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!  Praise God.  

Late today due to illness and doctor’s appointment.  Bless you all!

1 John 5:1-5 Faith Overcomes!

1 John 5:1-5  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.  This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.  In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands.  And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world.  This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.  

This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.  As new creatures, by faith we have overcome the world, not that we might overcome the world, but that we have overcome the world.  Christians carry out God’s commands because of our love for God.  What does He command?  What gives us victory over worldly attractions shrouded in fleshly desires?  Living dedicated to God in our actions and words reveals God’s goodness and righteousness and fulfills everything He asks of us.  Our obedience reflects the nature of God’s love towards humanity, even the unlovely, the froward, and the disobedient, for they are all made in his image.  To image God clearly is to be obedient to his will of love.  God is righteous, perfect, holy—the very definition of holy is God.  To obtain this holiness outside of God’s grace is impossible for the flesh, born in sin.  Consequently, his promise of making us eternal children in his image and nature has to be completed outside of the fleshly confines.  We who are IN CHRIST carry the robe of perfection only because of his perfect work on Earth, not our attempts at perfection or holiness in this life.  We are perfect because of the blood of Jesus Christ that cleanses us from all sins.  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin.  (1 John 1:7)  His redemption resides in us because of our faith in his righteous work that allows the Holy Spirit to take up residence within our souls.  Now, as temples of God, known as children of God, we walk in his perfection, his holiness, his overcoming Spirit, not ours.  Because of this knowledge, we love God wholeheartedly.  We incline toward his voice, his direction for our lives.  Although temptations, sickness, death, sorrow, and the like may cause our faith in God to wane a bit, the Spirit will lead us back.  At all times, Jesus’ love is pure and consistent, never varies.  Our love might burn hot in victory yet smolder at other times depending on our circumstances.  When we feel discouraged or downtrodden, we might lack the wholehearted love that God expects of us.  But the intensity of Jesus’ love flowing towards God and to his body never changes.  Our love might fluctuate because of life’s vicissitudes, but in CHRIST our love never fluctuates because Christ is our sufficiency.  Even when we have bitterness or anxiety about trusting God, we are hidden in the true love of Jesus Christ, assured that our love for God is always consistent because of Jesus’ propitiation for our sins.  When we waver, we must turn to Jesus for our help. 

The Bible tells us to love our neighbor as ourselves and to love those who hate us as well as those who love us and support us.  If we want consistency and obedience in our walk, we must live by faith, not by sight.  (2 Corinthians 5:7)  Jesus is always consistent; IN HIM we are consistent.  Does this give us permission to ignore God’s commands, trusting in God’s mercy?  No, we are servants of God, so we repent of our lack of love and fall beneath God’s authority in our lives, loving everyone through Christ.  As for loving God, we are to love him with all our soul, strength, mind, and spirit regardless of where and how we walk on this earth.  We should never give ourselves fleshly excuses for not loving; nonetheless, we know only Jesus can fulfill our obligations completely, because at the cross He showed the love we should have for God and that we should show for the world.  We are but flesh, not divine, but I (we) can do all things through him who gives me (us) strength.  (Philippians 4:13)  God’s intention for man was to make him into his image.  Children inherit the DNA of the parents; we who are IN CHRIST carry the DNA of God through our faith in Christ’s death and resurrection.  We died with him at the cross, and we were resurrected anew with him at his resurrection.  His work birthed in us a new creature.  Now, the promise for us who are alive in Christ is eternal life.  This is the theme of the whole Bible: life given to us by God.  Now God has fulfilled his plan of creating eternal life in humans though Jesus Christ.  We IN CHRIST are alive evermore because Jesus is alive evermore.  All of his promises to us of eternal life have come to realization through Christ.  We say, “Amen” to that or “Yes.”  Eternal life has come in us because God is the great “I will” God.  Now it is God who MAKES both us and you stand firm IN CHRIST.  He anointed us, SET HIS SEAL of ownership on us, and PUT HIS Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.  (2 Corinthian 1:21-22)  We are the workmanship of God, not of our own making.  For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.  (Ephesians 2:10)  We overcome this world and its spirit of death because Jesus overcame this world.  He lived without sin.  We humans have not lived our whole lives without sin.  So what then?  We trust in God’s perfection IN JESUS CHRIST WHO HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD! 

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.  (Acts 4:12)  We are trapped in the DNA of the flesh: mankind’s disobedience, willfulness, and lawlessness.  Jesus did not come to give us new laws; He came to deliver us from laws we were never able to keep by giving us his Spirit, to bring in a new covenant.  The belief in Jesus as the Son of Man, living and dying for the world frees men and women from entanglement with sin and death.  Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God.  When Saul met Jesus on the road to Damascus, the light brightly shining in his face blinded Saul.  Saul was a wicked man, full of religious zeal.  His intentions were to go to Damascus, arrest Jews who were following THE WAY, and walk them back in chains to Jerusalem a hundred and fifty miles away.  Can you imagine the physical, mental, and emotional torture these men and women would have experienced on their walk to Jerusalem?   Saul was willing to break up families to fulfill his murderous purposes for these Christians.  To carry out his plan of arresting and enslaving the Damascus Christians, he brought companions with him, who aided him in his blindness, helping him finish his journey to Damascus.  As Saul neared Damascus, Jesus accosted Saul with the words, Why do you persecute me?  I am Jesus.  (See Acts 22)  The  people Saul was persecuting were part of the body of Christ, people who were hidden IN CHRIST, integral parts of Jesus’ holy body.  Therefore, Jesus tells Saul, you are persecuting me, not that you are persecuting some followers of mine.  Jesus’ name is a stumbling stone for Saul and for any unbeliever.  For Saul, the name of Jesus was an anathema, the last name he wanted to hear from that light that blinded him.  The name of Jesus meant that he was one-hundred-eighty degrees wrong in his life choices.  He was going the wrong way at a reckless speed towards eternal death.  When we express Jesus to the world, this is exactly what is imprinted on their consciousness: they are going in the wrong direction at a harrowing speed.  Paul was struck blind because God wanted to use his religious zeal for his purposes.  As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him.  He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”  “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.  “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied.  “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”  (Acts 9:3-6)  As Saul was willing to persecute the church of the living God, his new life would be one of much persecution.  He zealously laid his life upon the altar for Jesus.  What joy this should bring into our hearts as we analyze the turnaround in Saul’s life.  Once a very religious person, capable of murdering good, innocent people, separating children from their parents, now transformed by the power of God.  Paul went to Damascus with the intention to arrest people, even to kill them if necessary; he left Damascus to bring new life to the good and bad throughout the world.  Dear friends around this breakfast table, we are no better than Saul, but God fulfilled his promise to us by bringing us eternal life through his Son.  We should bow in tears, seeing our filthy rags of sin, our marred visage.  Jesus came to us because the Father longed to redeem us and adopt us into his family, assigning each person a heavenly name.  Who is it that overcomes the world?  Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.  Who has overcome the gravity pull of death, who has broken the bonds of sin, who has placed the image of God on man’s life?  JESUS CHRIST— THAT IS WHO!  Join the saints through all the ages in praise to him!  

  

1 John 4:16-21 God In Us!

1 John 4:16-21  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus.  There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  We love because he first loved us.  Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.  For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.

If we live IN CHRIST, we are instruments of love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them, for God is love.  We cannot say that we are IN CHRIST if we hate our fellow man, if we seek to hurt others by expressing bitterness or anger towards them.  Jesus said for us to be perfect as God is perfect, to give blessing for curses, to pray for those who despitefully use us.  Peter said a slave with a froward master should serve his oppressor as if he is serving the Lord.  Christianity requires a fundamental change in how a person functions in this world.  A cursory look at the nature of mankind throughout the millenniums exposes the hostile nature of mankind.  People have existed in a cauldron of violence from the beginning of time.  Stronger, more powerful groups of people have victimized smaller, weaker communities and tribes who have their lands stolen, their wealth confiscated, men, women and children forced into slavery.  This hostile behavior and warring attitude has always been a primary component of man’s existence.  His willingness to kill others to gain what he desires is embedded in his nature.  Jesus said,  For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and defile a person.  (Mark 7:21-23)  All ethnic, racial, social groups possess this self-willed, combustible DNA.  Men have been slaughtered by the millions, and the women of all defeated communities have been forced to bear children by the conquering heroes from other lands.  Such wickedness is the opposite of the love John describes.  From childhood, men are programmed to be aggressive, controlling through subtle and overt activities that teach the manipulation of others.  Not one person can stand aloof and say this is not part of my natural inclinations, for we all have a survival mode that seeks our personal interests.  But Christians should consider the needs of others, acting as a stabilizing force in their communities, uniting  people in love.  Oppressive control and violence of every kind separates people, but love and acceptance unites people.  As the angel announced to the shepherds, good news has come to all people:  An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.  But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people.  (Luke 2:9-10)  A Savior has come to lead people out of their environment of constant selfishness and hurt to others.  If they put their trust in him and his good works, they will have eternal peace.  If not they will continue to war against each other: brother against brother, sister against sister, nation against nation.  Any barbarian or secular person will love his family or friends, but God asks his children to love the people in the world.  You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’  But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven.  He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the TAX COLLECTORS doing that?  And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even Pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5:43-48)   

The Old Testament reveals the schizophrenic nature of the Israelites.  Under good kings they received the blessings of God; under bad kings they received the judgment of God.  But there were more bad kings than good kings.  Over the centuries, the Israelites displayed double-mindedness as they would obey God’s laws and regulations for a while, but then they would revert to worshipping idols and foreign gods.  In their backsliding, they would desecrate the Temple, sacrificing animals to foreign gods on the consecrated altar and burning incense to these gods in the Holy of Holies, bowing down to their idols.  Some of the kings of Israel and Judah followed God, bringing revival to their lands, but many other kings brought idol worship into their kingdoms.  They served the gods of their neighbors rather than the God who brought them out of Egypt into Canaan.  Some of these kings were so wicked that they sacrificed their sons to Baal and other gods, sacrificing what God had set apart as his own to foreign deities.  Revival or not the Israelites were double-minded.  They would follow their leaders whether good or bad, for rituals did not change their hearts.  For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.  (Romans 10:10)  They served God outwardly to satisfy God’s demands by performing the necessary sacrifices for his blessing.  But their hearts were hard and they were always a stiff-necked people.  They could not accept wholeheartedly the God of their ancestors; consequently, they wandered throughout the ages in their fidelity to God.  You stiff-necked people!  Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised.  You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!  Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?  They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him—you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.  (Acts 7:51-53)  Even in their times of revival, when they followed God’s laws and his regulations, the impact of their religion on their hearts was only surface deep.  In an awakening, they found meaning in their ceremonies and in their sacrifices, but their hearts were unable to change completely toward serving God.  Today, attending church, going through the ceremonies of religion, will never change the hearts of men and women.  Jesus said, we must be born again, a new heart must be formed in us.  In man’s natural state, as with Cain, the murderer of Abel, wickedness is always crouching at the hearts of men, ready to devour them, causing them to sink into aggression, even murder.  The circumstances of life, adverse or not, will determine how quickly a worldly man or woman will revert to his or her natural instincts to control and inflict pain.  To truly be changed, people need a Savior.

Jesus fulfilled all the demands and regulations of the law, but He came to change hearts, which the law could not do.  He was, is, and always will be the Righteous One, the elder brother of all who come into the household of God by faith in him.  He brought righteousness to all who put their trust in him.  We no longer fear retribution from God because of our imperfections because we possess the perfection of God through Jesus.  We have Jesus’ love towards us and in us.  This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love.  But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment.  The one who fears is not made perfect in love.  When Jesus enters our lives, we take on his Spirit;  consequently, the Spirit of God rests in us.  We have the ability to have the mind of Christ.  Rather than striking back at people, we love them.  If we have problems accepting or loving people, we pray for them, and we try to correct the causes of estrangement from them.  The Children of Israel had problems loving each other that eventually divided Canaan into two nations.  Their ceremonies and sacrifices never changed their hearts.  As they warred against each other, many people were killed in these disputes and battles between Judah and Israel.  They all descended from Jacob’s family.  As we read the chronicles of these two nations, we see the offspring of these twelve brothers willingly killing each other.  Religion, regulations, church attendance, Bible reading, meditation, service, will not alter the violence and corruption in the hearts of men.  Surface solutions do not change the heart.  God sent a Savior to do a heart transplant in mankind—his name is Jesus.  We who are alive IN CHRIST have his Spirit, and we are oriented towards an eternal land, living lives beneficial to all mankind.  We are to love: Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar.  For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.  And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.  As with every generation, hate, wickedness, and violence are the story of mankind.  Our movies, televisions, radios, and computers promote violence and pain.  For most of us, this is called entertainment.  Humans are naturally inclined to open their ears, eyes, and minds to this corruption.  We are enthralled by violence and aggression.  We have developed many ways of destroying each other.  Nations are armed to the teeth for the purpose of annihilating others.  People all over the world carry guns so that they can destroy others if they are threatened.  We live in a violent and destructive world.  But Jesus’ salvation message is one of peace.  When Peter wanted to defend Jesus with a sword, Jesus said, “Put your sword back in its place, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”  (Matthew 26:52)  Love promotes peace; hate promotes chaos, killing, and sorrow.  GOD IS LOVE!  There is no fear in love.  For millenniums people have hurt, killed, and enslaved people.  The Old Testament, a school-teacher to us, reveals clearly the problems of all people: double-mindedness, lack of consistent goodness, failure to serve God wholeheartedly.  God knows us.  We cannot escape this corrupted DNA.  But He loves us and gave us Jesus to bring peace to our souls and eternal life.  Let us choose life and live IN HIM.  Jesus is the knowledge and wisdom of God.  Jesus is God’s hope for us to live peacefully with others, a plan to save us from ourselves and our own destruction.