Written so you will know

A friend recently told me about a challenge to read a short book of the Bible each day with a goal of reading it 30 times in a month. For the month of January, we are reading the epistle (letter) of 1 John. I saw a social media post in which he asks if we made any discoveries and how they may have made an impact on our life.

It is a good practice to read the Bible for yourself and not to just assume that you are hearing an accurate interpretation. The Jews from Berea are commended in Acts 17:11 because they would search the Scriptures to see if what they were hearing was true. I would encourage you to read 1 John. It contains five chapters, and you can read it in a short amount of time.

The author is the Apostle John. He was one of the original 12 disciples, and he wrote the Gospel of John, 1, 2, 3 John, and the book of Revelation. He is thought to have been the only one of the 12 to die of natural causes (Judas committed suicide, and the others were martyred). John is affectionately called, "the disciple whom Jesus loved." When Jesus was on the cross, he entrusted John with the care of his mother (John 19:26-27).

Chapter one opens with John explaining that he is writing as an eyewitness. His purpose in writing was so that we could have fellowship with all people who are followers of Jesus. That fellowship is based on a relationship with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. John goes on to explain the nature of God and how those who follow him deal with sin.

Evil is described as darkness whereas God is light without darkness. Everyone understands the theme of good versus evil. Any form of evil in our lives is described as darkness or sin. He explains that we cannot deny the fact that we are sinners. To do so would be to call God a liar, and that is a serious charge. He encourages us in 1 John 1:9 that, "if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Some groups teach that once a person becomes a Christian, they never sin again. At first glance, that appears to be what we read. A study of Greek shows us that the word is describing a continuous action which means the person keeps on sinning or continues living in sin. We are told that if we do sin, we have an advocate with the Father. In other words, Jesus represents us before holy God like a lawyer would represent an individual in a courtroom.

The sacrifice Jesus made on the cross is sufficient to save the whole world, however Scripture teaches that not everyone will be saved. It was Jesus who spoke about the wide versus the narrow gate in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:13-14). John concludes this letter by saying, "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life." 1 John 5:13.

Thinking about my impressions from studying this book of the Bible, I would conclude that we are to love God, love others, and hate sin. There will be antichrist--people who reject what the Bible says about Jesus, or who twist Scripture to create a different Jesus. Some will abandon the faith and oppose us, but according to John, it is because they were never true followers of Jesus.

An idea that stood out was that a person hates other people is not a true believer (1 John 2:9). Remember, Jesus taught us to love our enemies. We can expect the world to hate Christians, but we are encouraged that everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world (1 John 5:4-5).

When it comes to sin, followers of Jesus must be willing to examine ourselves by biblical teaching and ask God to help us to be Christlike. The Bible was written to help us.