October 16 – 1 John 5:13-21
Dear Lord God, we come before You in worship and praise, for You are the orchestrator of Your creation. Be with us as we spend time with You, and guide us to what You want to show us.
I love that John tells us clearly why he wrote this letter: “I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life.” Sometimes we forget this, don’t we? John’s letter was to believers who were struggling. His desire was to assure them that this part of our eternal lives is the hardest. After we serve Him here, we will be brought into a spacious place, and all things will be made new. We can’t even imagine it yet. We just know it will be very, very good. That should put a spring in our step and a yearning in our hearts each and every day. We get to be with Jesus someday! In the middle, John urges his readers to pray for believers who are sinning “in a way that does not lead to death.” This passage has always troubled me. For more explanations on what it might mean, check your favorite pastor or commentary. I align with Crossway’s explanation if you’d like to read it here: https://www.crossway.org/articles/what-is-the-sin-that-leads-to-death-1-john-5/. John ends with a warning to us to keep away from idols, or as the New Living Translation puts it: “Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.” Oh, how he wants us to love God and others. He’s keeping first things first in this letter. Jesus told us these were the greatest of the commandments. John is underlining this teaching for us in his letter. So … let’s do that today. Love God best and most and first, and love others as He loved us.
My verse: 1 John 5:18, “We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them.”
My response: This is so true. I may sin, but I don’t wake up in the morning deciding I want to sin and walk away from You, Lord. Of course, I do sometimes walk away and then run back to you, but it’s not an intentional desire to be bad. And how I love the reassurance that You hold me securely and, therefore, the evil one cannot touch me. Hallelujah, and thank You for keeping me close to Your side.
What’s next?
As the Spirit leads, share what He has laid on your heart in the comment section below. Then join us again tomorrow for the next commentary.
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1 John 5:20 ESV
[20] And we know 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, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
https://bible.com/bible/59/1jn.5.20.ESV
I love that John ends this letter with truth that we know. He is so abundantly clear that Jesus is the truth, that He has given us understanding, and that we have eternal life through Him. Sometimes as we slog our way through this life we lose sight of those truths. It is good to be in the Word and be reminded of those truths.
Absolutely. We need reminding of truth … often. Especially in a culture that is far from God. SO many great reasons to be in the Word daily and you articulated one of them so well. Thanks.