THE JOURNEY
1 John 2:3-10
“Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.”
The simplest way to understand what John is telling us is that a Christian must be on a path that leads to knowing God, loving him and therefore being like Christ. It doesn’t make sense to say that you are a Christian but you do not wish to obey him, you have no desire to know him, you have no love for him or for all that he stands for, and there is no evidence at all that you seek to become like Jesus. Such a Christian is a liar. He is not a Christian at all.
Of course we are talking about a journey of many steps but as John says, “the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.” The destination is clearly marked out by John’s assertions. Becoming a disciple of Jesus, coming into fellowship with God, is not about raising a hand, saying a prayer, performing rituals weekly or yearly. You come into fellowship with God who is light and ultimately you are to become light. The first step is to repent and believe, and this deals with your sin and lets you into the kingdom. From there God seeks to deal with your sin, to dispel your darkness and to bring you more and more into light.
John sets out two principles that must undergird our journey: 1) repent and believe; and 2) love. The first deals with the darkness that we continue to harbour in us while the second dispels the darkness. The first is like medicine that helps keep the darkness at bay while the second is like medicine that fights the darkness.
“… the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.”