Testimony Of God

1 John 5:9-15, 20
We accept man’s testimony, but God’s testimony is greater because it is the testimony of God, which he has given about his Son. Anyone who believes in the Son of God has this testimony in his heart. Anyone who does not believe God has made him out to be a liar, because he has 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. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 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… We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true—even in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

After many days of rest and rejuvenation, it feels wonderful to sit at the feet of God again and write His words. Like I previously said, it is wonderful to have faith but it is essential to know what we have faith in and the only way to know is to seek of God from His word. To know God, we need to seek of God because if all men have sinned, then no man can testify about a holy and righteous God and so the words in today’s chapter ring true that God’s testimony is certainly true and worthy of accepting. We live in Satan’s dominion here on earth and he ensures that we live a life far from the heart of God. Everything about God feels alien to us and therefore we doubt God and trust only man. How can we know the truth and how can we see beyond the cobwebs Satan has woven into this world to prevent us from seeing God in truth and light?

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The Reality Of Our Faith

1 John 2:15-17, 22-25, 27
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever… Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. See that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is what he promised us—even eternal life… As for you, the anointing you received from him remains in you, and you do not need anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things and as that anointing is real, not counterfeit—just as it has taught you, remain in him.

In recent days, I have been exploring the web  to understand what non-believing christians find contentious about the christian faith. As expected, there are thousands of articles and videos that cast doubt on the very existence of God, let alone the christian God and there are many christians who have responded to some of these challenges either successfully or not. Believing is the most critical part of our faith and knowing why we believe is critical as well when we hope to share what Christ has done for us. Questions like the need for a God, the authenticity of the Bible, the worth of a God who does not save people from suffering, etc. are hard questions and because we cannot get an answer, it might cause us to doubt if our faith is correctly placed in the first place. How then can God remind us to hold firm to our faith when we do not have answers to basic issues such as these?

The Truth About Lies

1 John 1:5-9
This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. 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, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

Sometimes I wonder what it must’ve been for the apostles to live with the Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and to serve Him? What a privilege that God chose them over the wise and the learned men of Israel to be His own disciples. Imagine their self-doubt when they were called to share the good news of Jesus to the world that had just killed their messiah! Even with all the opposition, they lived lives that showed their real belief in Jesus Christ and eventually succumbed to their beliefs by dying painful deaths themselves. In all of the Bible, there seems to be no great earthly benefit of following Christ and add to that today’s passage that confuses us about our righteousness. What is God saying to us?