We Belong To God

Monday, April 21, 2014              We Belong To God

1 John 3: 11 - 4:6

In this letter, John uses the word love twenty-six times; twenty times in chapters three and four. Eight times John discusses belonging. Do we belong to God, or to the world? Do we belong to the truth of Christ or to a lie? Over and over again, John stressed that a Christian is in God, and God is in the Christian.

John is teaching the church that because God loves His children, His children love others. As with faith, the depth of the love John is proclaiming is much deeper than the average Christian may realize. Because of the love of God, “Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters” (1 John 3:16). (We know John didn’t divide his letter into chapters and verses, and number them. Even so, the similarity between John 3:16 and 1 John 3:16 is quite stunning!)

John is using his repetitive style because he wants the church to not just mouth these affirmations, but to live them out in their daily lives. James emphasized this teaching as well: “I will show you my faith by my good deeds.” (James 2:14-20) So also the Apostle Paul, “Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus . . .” (Philippians 2:4-5 NRSV)

John also cautions against false teachers and his warning is as applicable today as it was twenty centuries ago. John includes with his warning what I believe is one of the most important promises in the New Testament: “But you belong to God, my dear children. You have already won a victory over those people, because the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world” (1 John 4:4 Emphasis mine). Learning to trust the Spirit within us is an art, and takes time and experience. Even so, “the Spirit who lives in you is greater than the spirit who lives in the world.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

• Meditations on The Story of My Life as told by Jesus Christ has been released as an e-book on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188.